The Dreams We Vowed to Protect
by Scarlet Adjustment
Summary: After learning that Luffy died from some otherworldly powers, the crew is given a chance to save him by going back in time. They try to keep things the same as the original timeline, but things will never go their way- much to the displeasure of the entire crew. After all, how can they deal with a captain who no longer wants to become Pirate King?
1. Renewal of Vows

**I apologize in advance for any OOCness... I will get better at this... hopefully.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Renewal of Vows**

He wasn't particularly a fan of being on watch duty.

It meant that he had to stay up while all the others were asleep. While the beauty of the moon glimmering down on the sea was pretty and interesting, nothing could beat the exuberant daytime that was filled with noise of joy and annoyance of his crew mates. Most of the times when he was on watch duty, he couldn't wake everyone up to make his boredom vanish. His crew deserved a good night's sleep because they were the best crew a captain could ever have. Though, not many of them could see the captain's gratitude for them through his never-ending mood to bother them for food or to play.

But man… just sitting in the crow's nest alone was boring and lonely. Well… on the bright side, it was slightly easier to sneak into the kitchen when he was on watch duty.

Luffy grinned as he pushed his straw hat off his head so that it hung off from his neck. He then jumped down from the crow's nest and gracefully landed on the grassy deck of the Thousand Sunny. Quickly, but quietly, he made a dash for the kitchen.

He stared at the fridge. It was tightly secured, with dozens of locks and chains wrapped around it, on top of it only opening if five correct passwords were inputted.

Luffy pouted. _Sanji, that jerk. The cook added more security to his haven._

He rolled his eyes as he was about to start trying to unlock everything… again… but he froze when he caught a glance at the calendar that was squished between the fridge and the chains.

He furrowed his eyebrow. Tomorrow… was that day. He glanced at the clock. It was a couple of hours before midnight. A small smile tugged at his lips.

He gave up the idea of raiding the fridge (for today), and he headed straight for the cabinets. Taking a bottle of sake and a red bowl, he ran out the kitchen and toward the lion-sunflower figurehead of the Sunny. He leaped to sit on his favorite seat. Only the moon and the sea could bear witness of what seemed like a boy about to get drunk on a lion-sunflower head.

Luffy grinned once more. He sat between a mystery sea of water and a mystery sea of stars. He held the red bowl up above his head. It wasn't the same as the one used twelve years ago, but it's only the thought that counted.

"Hey Sunny," the straw-hatted captain spoke with a wide grin to his ship. "Tomorrow's the day I swore to be brothers with Ace and Sabo."

The ship didn't respond. It just continued to gently sway back and forth on the unusual calm seas.

"You probably don't really know who I'm talking about. After all, neither of them have stepped foot here."

The only thing that could be heard was the waves rolling against the ship.

"They're both amazing brothers," Luffy smiled as he put the bowl on his lap. "You'll meet Sabo one day and you'll see what I'm talking about. As for Ace… well, just take my word for it!"

Luffy patted the figurehead like it was an animal. "...They're truly awesome and amazing brothers."

Grey clouds started rolling across the sky, blocking out the stars. Luffy paid no attention to it. If it was something to really worry about, Nami would wake up immediately and start barking out orders. She did have some kind of sense or radar for dangerous weather.

"We have dreams, like the crew. Ace wanted to become a great pirate— and he did. Sabo wanted to write some kind of book about… everything, I think. As for me, you know what it is already," Luffy smirked as he stood up, bowl and bottle of sake in his hands. He took a deep breath and smiled. "I'm gonna be… PI— "

Luffy stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly felt the urge to check the deck. He jumped back on the deck, carefully placing the bowl and sake on the grassy floor.

Luffy was in confusion. With his observation haki, he should have felt any new presence before it even got on the ship. In fact, he could only feel eight auras, excluding his own. It was probably only instinct that allowed him to notice this stranger's presence.

It was a stranger that wore a dark brown cloak that covered his whole body, as well as shadowed his entire face. There was a naginata on his back. The only thing that Luffy could determine was that the stranger was a man.

"Hi, I'm Luffy," the captain smiled, even though this stranger wasn't exactly sending signals of 'I come in peace.'

"I know," said the gruff voice of the stranger. Suddenly, the stranger rushed forward, brandishing the naginata he grabbed from his back, and aimed its tip toward Luffy's heart. As if on some cue, winds started to gust from every direction, and a heavy downpour started. It was only a few seconds before the ship and the two men on deck were completely soaked.

Luffy dodged with ease, a little surprised that this man would try to kill everyone on this ship by himself. The man continued to attempt to stab, but all the work was in vain as Luffy could predict all the movements the man could make.

Luffy then pouted. The sudden and loud storm should have awoken _someone_ up. But no presence, other than the two on deck, have moved an inch. Then Luffy considered the weather. He was no Nami, but even he could tell that they were in a storm and an orange-haired navigator should have been yelling at everyone to escape the storm since minutes ago.

Ughh… too much thinking, but there was definitely something wrong.

He stopped dodging, and quickly grabbed the man's throat, causing the man to drop his weapon.

"What did you do to my friends?" Luffy growled.

The man only smirked, only earning a tighter grip on his neck.

Luffy marched toward the men's quarters, dragging along the man with him. Once he opened the door to where his male companions would be, some sort of visible purple gas started to exit from the room. Luffy's eyes widened. He had his own fair share of toxins to know immediately that this mystery gas was poison. Without a second thought, he released his grasp on the man and dove into the quarters full of gas.

At least he was lucky to be resistant to poison.

With one arm, he grabbed Franky and Brook, with the other arm, he grabbed Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp. He finally clenched one of Chopper's antlers between his teeth, before jumping out of the room and creating a massive hole in the wall that stood between the fresh air of the outside and the poisonous air of the inside.

Before he could notice that the man was missing from the spot he left him in, Luffy saw a bunch of wind start to form in the ocean.

 _What was that called again? Nami said something about whirlpools of air or 'Mystery Winds' being called cyclones or hurricanes or something…_

Normally, Luffy would think that witnessing one of these mystery wind things form would be awesome, but without a navigator to steer them away from the danger, Luffy felt like that one time when he had to conceal himself in a barrel to avoid drowning in a whirlpool.

Luffy —not so gently— threw all the men on the deck and bolted to the women's quarters to find that it was also full of gas. He carried Nami on his back and Robin rested in his arms, bridal style.

As he arrived back outside, he saw a brief flash before his eyes. It was a vision of the man shooting a bullet towards him, and it actually pierced through his skin. Whether it was some seastone bullet or some haki-infused bullet, he didn't know, as when the vision ended, the man had already pulled the trigger. Luffy couldn't move, if he did, he knew the bullet would end up striking Nami or Robin.

He took the bullet straight on. As the bullet pierced his collarbone and tore apart the string that held his straw hat around his neck, Luffy could immediately tell that this was a seastone bullet.

He grit his teeth as pain and weakness reverberated throughout his whole body. He gently tossed Robin and Nami to the grass deck, knowing full well that Sanji would scold him for improper care of ladies in the future. He didn't notice his straw hat fly away with the gusts of wind that constantly barraged the ship.

Now with his full attention on the smirking man, he let out a full blast of Conqueror's Haki, all concentrated on the one man, quickly wiping the smirk off. Just because there was seastone lodged in his body, didn't mean Luffy was going down that easily.

The man fell to his knees, and some foam escaped from his mouth, but he was still conscious, barely. Luffy, with all the force he could muster, punched the spot where the bullet entered his body, causing the bullet to forcefully exit through his back.

He noticed that the mystery wind was quickly approaching the ship, but quickly erased the thought from his mind. He could do nothing against that natural disaster, but this man, he could do something about him. Spotting a vial of clear liquid on the floor beside the man, Luffy quickly wrapped his arm around the man a dozen times and snarled, "Is that the antidote?!"

Still under the effects of Conqueror's Haki, the man simply nodded as he tried to get his mind back together.

Luffy grabbed the vial and rushed toward his unconscious friends on the deck. They all seemed to be suffering, like they were having some nightmare added with the effects of the poison. Quickly spotting Chopper, he forced the liquid down the reindeer's throat. Chopper suddenly coughed a bit but was still unconscious. Luffy hoped that this was a good thing.

His feeling of relief only lasted momentarily as the man suddenly threw a fierce kick at Luffy's stomach. The stranger's shoes were partially made up seastone, Luffy realized, since such a blunt attack wouldn't normally affect him or weaken him for that matter.

The force of the kick sent Luffy, and the man entangled in his arm, flying against the railings. More blood and vials of what was hopefully the antidote fell to the ground. Before Luffy could recover, the man shot more seastone bullets in the rubberman's abdomen, provoking Luffy to release a shrill scream. Refusing to release his grip on the man, Luffy punched as hard as he could at the man's face, blood splattering everywhere from Luffy's gut and the man's jaw. The hood fell off the man's head and revealed that the man was faceless… and his skin was… glowing?

"What?" The pirate's eyes widened in surprise. That's so cool!

Shaking away any unnecessary thoughts, Luffy punched the man in the head again. The man was immediately unconscious. He didn't stop to wonder how a man, easily knocked out by two easy punches, could cause so many problems on his ship.

Again, Luffy's relief could only last so long.

The mystery wind was dangerously close to the ship. Luffy couldn't find any more strength with four seastone bullets lodged in his stomach, but he was determined to keep his grip on the man.

Like the heavens wouldn't grant him any mercy, a strong burst of wind attacked the Sunny, lurching it to the side Luffy was. The rubberman was forced over the railing and was quickly falling off the ship, toward the water where all his strength would be no more.

Immediately realizing that no one was going to save him, Luffy stared solemnly at the figurehead of the Sunny. But at least there was someone that could save his crew.

"Sunny… Please… Take care of them…" It felt like time slowed down.

His gaze wandered toward the deck where all his unconscious friends lay. He suddenly had a quick flashback of Loguetown, where his death was also certain.

"Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook," he used the last of his breath. "I'm sorry…"

He plunged into the restless, unforgiving ocean. But he kept his focus on his ship. He felt a strong presence suddenly flare from the ship. He smiled, knowing they were in good hands.

 _I'm dead._

And with that, the Captain of the Strawhat Pirates sank, with only the darkness to surround him.

As if following its captain's last wishes, an invisible force suddenly caused the sails to furl. Before the mystery winds could trap the ship with its merciless winds. The ship, as a glorious lion, elegantly leaped off from the water, but leaving behind a large shadow of what it lost.

* * *

"Mhmmugh…" A certain green-haired swordsman groaned as he rose to consciousness. He sat up and rested his head against his hand. He felt like he had a severe hangover. As his eyes adjusted to his surroundings, he saw a small reindeer tending to some other people on the ground under the night sky. He felt the soft grass under his arm, making him wonder what he was doing, sleeping on the deck. "Chopper..?"

"Ah! Zoro! Don't move, you're still recovering from the effects of the poison!" Chopper ordered with concern as he went to check on Zoro.

"Poison..?" Finally aware of his surroundings, he saw most of the crew laying on the deck, slowly waking up. He jerked his head up. "The hell? What happened?!"

Chopper frowned. "I don't really know. When I woke up, I found a vial stuck in my mouth. I spit it out quickly, only to realize everyone else was sprawled out on the deck. I realized that you all had poison in your systems, as well as I. I figured that the vial that was in my mouth was some sort of antidote since none of you showed any signs of getting better. Fortunately, for some reason, there were more vials, like the one in my mouth, spread across the deck. I ran some quick tests and the liquid in the vials was indeed the antidote, and I quickly gave it to all of you."

"When did… we get poisoned?" Sanji said, groggily.

"Probably from your shit cooking," Zoro snorted.

"What did you say?!" At this moment, the swordsman and the cook were butting heads as usual. Any after-effects of the poison were gone.

"No, the poison came from the dormitories," Franky said, as he appeared from the maintenance room. "In fact, there's still some poison lingering in both rooms, especially in the women's. So not super."

They all looked at where the men and women's quarters were. The women's looked normal, other than the fact that some purple gas could be seen through the window. As for the men's, there was a large, gaping hole where the door and parts of the wall should be. There was little gas airing out through the hole.

"It also appears that during the time we were all unconscious, the Sunny used a Coup de Burst," Franky continued.

"What the..? Only Franky and Usopp really know how to use a Coup de Burst…" Nami groaned as she rubbed her temples.

"Wasn't me," Frank crossed his arms.

"It was not… the great captain Usopp either…" Usopp groaned as he scratched his head.

"Speaking of shitty captains, where's ours?" Sanji asked as he tried to stand up right. His Observation Haki allowed him to only sense eight presences on the ship.

"Not here," Robin said as her arms were crossed and eyes were closed, indicating that she was using her powers to get a visual of the condition of every room in the ship. "However…"

Zoro glanced at a naginata that lay on the grassy deck. He narrowed his eyes. "An intruder."

A cold chill permeated the air around each and every one of them.

"But Luffy's Luffy," Usopp started, sweat visible on his face. "There's no way he'd be defeated by a couple of intruders… right?"

"Right!" Nami agreed with Usopp, only to keep the hope that their persistent captain was still alive.

"It doesn't matter now whether Luffy held up a good fight or not. What matters is that there are only eight people on this ship right now and those eight people are only us."

Sanji took out a cigarette and lit it. "If the intruders were somehow able to poison our rooms without any detection, then they could be able to somehow hold Luffy down."

"Um… everyone..?" Everyone's heads turned to look at their resident skeleton. Brook was shaking as if he could barely find the strength to stand. In one hand was a gun, and in the other was what appeared to be a bloodstained bullet. "Seastone."

That one word blew out the life out of everyone. Sure, Luffy could probably handle fighting a guy with seastone, but taking into consideration that he also had to protect his crew…

Chopper sniffled and his eyes watered as he tried to prepare himself to bring forth new information. "Most of the blood on the ship is from Luffy..."

With the announcement, the crew stared at the ground. Blood trailed on the stairs and on the deck. There were noticeable pools of blood mixed with water in front of the women's quarters and near a railing.

"Unbelievable…" Usopp was breathless as he stared at the pool of blood next to the railing.

As if to seal the deal, a straw hat that could only belong to one person suddenly appeared in the sky, carried by the hollow winds.

Sanji used skywalk to reach the straw hat the fluttered so high in the sky. After he caught it, he landed back on the deck to show everyone.

Chopper couldn't hold in his overwhelming grief anymore. He pulled his hat down to cover his eyes before he released the cried never-ending tears. "LUFFY!"

 _I don't want to conquer anything. I just think the guy with the most freedom on this whole ocean is… THE PIRATE KING_

Chopper kept shaking his head as if trying to wake himself up from a nightmare. _How could the man who gave him the friends he so desperately wanted… be gone?_

"LUFFY, YOU BASTARD!" Usopp roared at the sky. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE US LIKE THIS. YOU CAN'T— NONE OF US HAVE EVEN ACCOMPLISHED ANY OF OUR DREAMS YET AND YOU'RE KICKING THE BUCKET NOW?!" He stared at the dark sky as if awaiting some sort of reply. Usopp sighed, then tried to console the little reindeer by hugging him, but it only resulted in him releasing the floodgates.

 _We are NOT asking him where the treasure is hidden! We're not even asking him whether there IS any treasure or not! I'm not sure, but... ...everybody set out to sea, risking their lives to search for it! If you ask this old man anything about it here and now... Then I'll quit being a pirate! I don't want to go on a boring adventure like that!_

"The adventure's already boring with you gone," he murmured, before burying his face in Chopper's hat. _How could the man who believed in him, his strength, his lies… be gone?_

The rest of the members were stiff as they stared at the straw hat. There was still some hope. After all, Luffy would sometimes lose his straw hat in the heat of battle.

"The vivre card," said a gruff voice. All heads turned their attention toward a very enraged Zoro. No actions were taken as everyone was still trying to process everything, only making the swordsman snap and slam his fist against the floor.

"CHECK IF THE DAMN VIVRE CARD IS STILL THERE!"

Sanji clenched his teeth has he grabbed the red ribbon of the straw hat. His eyes widened. Next to a vivre card from Rayleigh was a tiny piece of burning paper. Just as hope returned to the eyes of those who were looking at the revelation, the fire suddenly engulfed the remaining sliver of paper and… vanished… into thin air. In that second, he died. Their captain was dead.

It was like the world was laughing in their faces.

Nami crumpled down to the floor, covering her face with her hands, her sobs adding to the mournful air. "You can't just… suddenly off and disappear forever like that…"

 _You are the future Pirate King's friend, so stop being such a worrier!_

The tears couldn't stop from leaking through her fingers. "IDIOT!" she screamed. _How could the man who freed her… be gone?_

Robin was the one who tried to comfort the navigator. Her usual indifferent face vanished. She couldn't keep her mouth from frowning, her eyes from watering. She tightened her grip on Nami who was sobbing loudly now.

 _When I was a kid, I swore to gather Nakama and become the Pirate King. You're already my Nakama. Just like the pirate who protected me, I'll protect you too._

The ravenette shook her head and her lips trembled. _How could the man who let her keep living… be gone?_

Brook was shaking, his hands tightly squeezing his cane. He was reliving flashbacks of the demise of his own crew. Poison… Crew… Helpless… Death… "Luffy-san…"

 _We pirates have a dream._

"Where does your dream go now..?" _How could the man who gave him hope and a new thing to live for… be gone?_

Franky felt anger surge throughout his whole body. He was about to punch a hole in the deck, but restrained himself from doing so. The Sunny didn't deserve to be damaged by his anguish. Settling for just clenching his hands as tight as possible, he sighed, "Seriously?"

 _I'M GONNA BE PIRATE KING!_

"And look where we are now. If you die before achieving your dream, how can you expect us to achieve our own dreams?" The cyborg broke down in sobs. _How could the man who let him follow his dream again… be gone?_

However, Zoro didn't think about being regretful for harming the Sunny to release his anger as he punched at the grass deck with his fist, leaving behind a small crater. He normally didn't express such intense emotions. But the captain, just suddenly dying on no one's watch. It was the same as him leaving without a word. It felt like Luffy betrayed the trust and loyalty of the crew, even though Zoro knew otherwise. He punched the ground once again. "I should've be—"

The swordsman was cut off when a fierce kick collided with his stomach. The impact forced Zoro to crash into the mast.

"THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

The culprit behind the kick, Sanji, spit out his cigarette and crushed it beneath his foot. He returned a glare at the furious swordsman. "Don't go blaming only yourself, shitty swordsman." He couldn't lie though, kicking that shitty swordsman did relieve a tiny bit of anger. But not enough. It would never be enough. "All of us here are to blame, including that captain of ours who decided to go off and die."

Zoro looked away, only a tad bit calmer than before. "I… knew that already..."

 _I've set myself to become the King of Pirates… and if I die trying… then at least I tried!_

Did he die trying to become Pirate King? Or did he just die trying to protect his crew? No… Zoro covered his face for thinking that. It was all the same thing. But he just had an urge to just do something. Like, cut up the reaper that dared to take away Luffy's life. Or cut up some non-existent god and force it to bring his captain back to the living.

He closed his one eye. _But the man who made it possible to even let him get close to attaining his dream… had died._

Sanji would have to agree with that sentiment. He didn't spend two years running in hell just for him to not be able to anything for their captain again.

 _Don't make me wait long! Without you, I won't— I CAN'T BECOME PIRATE KING!_

"Likewise," he muttered. _The man who saved him from his dysfunctional family and let him set sail for his dream… was gone._

He looked at the broken forms of his crewmates. He almost stumbled and fell, but he forced himself to stand tall. They all had their own fair share of death. But somewhere inside, they all thought that their captain was immune to death. He would always leave behind a trail of miracles and always do the impossible. He would never die.

The fact that _he_ was right here, complaining about food and causing havoc on the ship as always made his death seem impossible. No one saw how he died. It was just a piece of paper that went up in flames. But it was _his_ life that went up in flames.

Despite the circumstances, there had to be someone stay strong since this was the New World. Even that Marimo lost it, even if it was just for a second, so the cook took it upon himself. He started walking toward the kitchen.

Even without a captain, he still had a job.

Before he took a step inside the kitchen, he felt some sort of presence appear on the deck of the ship. It felt non-threatening, even somehow nostalgic. He turned around to see some sort of ethereal form of a hooded child stand on the deck.

Usopp's eyes bulged, recognizing the appearance immediately, "Y-you?! MERRY?!"

"EHH?" Several of the crew exclaimed with shock.

The child shook its head, "Wrong."

Franky rubbed his eyes before doing a double take, "SUNNY?"

The child smiled and put up a thumbs up. "Correct, Franky!"

Several jaws hit the floor. Others were frozen in shock. Their captain just died minutes ago, and now the Klabautermann of the Sunny has suddenly appeared. Wait, but that meant…

"Impossible! You can only appear if you're dying! But I just checked and you should only have a few minor scratches. Nothing fatal!" Franky cried, thinking that somehow the collapse of Luffy's dream was causing the collapse of everyone else's dreams. He cried, "DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE DYING TOO?!"

"No," the Klabautermann smiled. "I'm in Super shape!"

The crew couldn't help but smile at the Klabautermann, though that didn't hide their flabbergasted expressions and obvious sorrow.

"H-how.." Franky didn't know whether to be happy or sad or whatever. Same with the rest of the crew.

"I'm here under different circumstances," the Sunny looked at each Straw Hat in the eye. "One: To fulfill the Captain's last wish."

The mood immediately plummeted.

"Luffy-san's... last wish?" Brook raised an eyebrow, or he would have if he had one.

"Wha... what is it?" Nami whispered in curiosity, yet still under the heavy blanket of guilt.

"Right, it was…" the Sunny grinned. "I WANT MEAT!"

Zoro sighed in annoyance, "Figures he'd still be thinking about meat even as he was dying…"

"Would it bother him to think about us for a second?" Usopp moped. Chopper nodded, with his whole face wet with tears.

"Doesn't surprise me," Nami muttered, also feeling quite annoyed. Robin chuckled while wiping the tear off her face.

"So what, am I supposed to feed you some meat since you're here because of that wish?" Sanji looked mildly confused, yet a bit relieved.

The Klabautermann grinned wider. Somehow, even though the Captain was the cause of their sorrows, he was also what could raise their spirits.

Suddenly, it felt itself be picked by two large, yet blocky arms. "Ow, to think my ship could manifest its own spirit without having to be on the verge of death! This is so super!"

It was then face to face with a skeleton. "Pardon me, Ms. Sunny, but are you a child?"

"No."

"Do you consider yourself a woman?" Brook asked.

Nami suddenly had a look of dread wash over her face. "Why do I have a bad feeling about where this conversation is leading to?"

"Yes," Sunny smirked, knowing what Brook was going to ask next. "I'll show you my panties."

"How graciou—"

"WOULD YOU KNOCK IT OFF!" Nami shouted as she thrashed the skeleton to the ground. "THAT'S OUR SHIP, NO LESS, IN A CHILD'S BODY!"

"I can morph my shape into that of a sexy lady, if that's what you want," Sunny smiled.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Nami screeched as blood was somehow starting to drip from Brook's nose.

"Oh! Please do, Sun— " Sanji was the next to earn a thrashing from the orange-haired navigator.

"Don't," Usopp murmured. "If she takes characteristics from us, then she's probably wearing something like Franky's speedos."

"Shitty long nose, don't insult a woman! ("Eh? There's nothing wrong with speedos!" said Franky) The Sunny might take after Nami and —-" Resume more thrashing from the orange-haired navigator. Robin simply chuckled at the sight while Usopp and Chopper were commenting on how scary Nami was while hiding behind a certain swordsman's back.

Sunny broke into a laughter and rolled onto the deck as the laughter was uncontrollable. The rest also started laughing too, but it didn't last too long. It didn't feel right to laugh while _he_ was gone.

Sensing the grim mood that the crew all shared, Sunny confessed, "The captain's last words to me was: 'Please take care of them.'" She noticed how they all looked away, all consumed in their own weakness for not being able to take care of themselves. "Since you were all feeling sad, I decided to cheer you all up."

"I- is there something wrong with being sad that he… that he's gone?" Chopper sniffled.

"No."

Even though Sunny's eyes were shadowed by her hood, the crew could tell, feel, that she was making one of those faces. A face a lot like Luffy's thoughtful expression.

"But the Captain wished for me to help you all move on without him. So here I am, helping."

"How did he die?" Chopper asked, but he looked like he was going to regret asking.

"Drowned," the Klabautermann deadpanned. "Once he defeated the enemy, I… the ship… suddenly lurched over to one side because of the storm… and they… he… fell off. I'm sorry, I should've been able to withstand the gale."

The crew all noticed how Sunny's tiny fists clenched. Even the ship felt guilty.

"So you're the one who did the Coup de Burst to escape from the storm?" Franky asked.

Sunny nodded, not being able to hide a sniffle.

"Thank you," Nami's said, as she patted the spirit on the shoulder. She realized that the ship had to choose between crew and captain, and it must've been a heartbreaking decision. "We would all be dead if not for you."

"You're not… mad?" Sunny asked.

They all shook their head.

"Luffy-san did tell you to save us… Captain's orders, right? Yohohoho," Brook forced himself to chuckle.

"Yeah, I'll just drag him back from hell if I have to, no big deal," Zoro yawned.

"Um… are we actually going to try to go to hell?" Usopp asked, even though he felt it was a dumb question with these people.

"Of course! It's going to take a lot more than drowning to escape us!" Zoro growled. "His fault, he won't let us die, so we won't let him stay dead."

"Right!" Chopper exclaimed, with newfound resolve.

"I'll make sure he eats until he explodes," Sanji mumbled. "Then kick his ass for dying on us."

"Hell? I wonder if they have some interesting metal there," Franky wondered, pushing his sadness away to make room for a new goal.

"I hope the people there like music," Brook hummed. "If not, I'll make sure to move their souls as Soul King!"

"Oi, oi…" Usopp sweatdropped. The melancholy feelings from losing their captain was slowly vanishing, being replaced by thoughts of _saving_ him.

"Before any of that, do any of you know if we can even enter hell?" Nami inquired in disbelief.

"Fufufu… I might have some books on it," Robin chuckled.

And just like that, after grieving over the loss of their lovable captain, the Straw Hat crew all had a new resolve to bring back their captain from wherever he was, whether it be some afterlife or some other world, nothing could stop them. From the outside, it would seem that they all can't accept their captain's death and are delusional. But, it was the New World and anything could happen. Also, they were pirates, so they could do whatever the hell they wanted to do.

"From hell… huh…" Sunny whispered to herself as if those keywords triggered something in her memory. The Straw Hats all looked to her, wondering what she was thinking about. "Oh, that's right!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Usopp asked.

"I forgot to tell you the other reason why I am able to manifest myself right here," Sunny said, regaining her composure. "Two: the intruder that caused this whole mess didn't belong here."

"Of course not, only the Straw Hat Pirates belong on this ship," Franky said.

"No, I mean that he didn't belong in this world, or at least, in this time," Sunny elaborated. "He's not supposed to exist here, as he is. When he appeared, he just appeared out of nowhere, like he was coming out of some invisible portal. It's possible that something he did must have had an effect on my spiritual connection with the physical world, hence, allowing me to control things on the ship and being able to manifest myself in front of you all."

"Does that matter now? He's dead now, right?" Nami said.

"No, but… Listen, that guy couldn't be detected by Observation Haki, but I could sense his presence because, well, you could say we're on the same wavelength."

"So..?" Usopp was wondering where this was leading.

"Well, there's another presence like his, on this ship too," Sunny revealed with a straight face.

"WHAT?" All of the Straw Hats readied themselves in attack stances, whilst trying to find the presence. "You should've said that earlier!" Usopp screamed.

"Sorry, I just forgot."

"HOW DO YOU FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT?"

 _I really can't detect another presence with Observation Haki_ , Sanji verified the Sunny's words.

"Took you long enough to notice," a cloaked figure revealed his voice as he jumped down from the crow's nest. All members of the Straw Hat Pirates were shocked, except for Sunny, since she saw this before. The man's hood was down, to reveal a faceless head and oddly growing skin.

"G- GHOST!" Usopp screeched as he pointed directly at the man-thing.

"WHAT?" Chopper followed Usopp's example.

"SCARY!" Brook screamed.

"Shut up!" Zoro ordered as he pointed two of his katanas towards the man. "So you're here to come kill us all too?"

"Great, I'm in the mood for some ass-kicking," Sanji said as he raised his leg.

"No, I come in peace," the stranger said, raising his arms as if to say he won't try to do anything. None of the Straw Hats calmed down though. "I'm here to help you."

"Help?" Robin raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm here to help you get your captain back," the stranger said.

"What? You know where the entrance to hell is?" Franky asked, earning a couple of sweat-drops from Usopp and Nami.

"Nope, I got something even better," the man said, with a mischievous tone.

"What could be better than venturing into hell?" Sanji inquired.

"I can name a lot of things," Usopp muttered.

"Time travel," the man answered.

"Bullshi—"

"Sounds more plausible than finding and entering hell," Nami interrupted the cook. She then turned her attention to the stranger. "Why would you do this for us?"

The man, even without a nose or mouth, deeply and slowly inhaled… and exhaled. "Monkey D. Luffy was not supposed to die today."

"Elaborate," Robin said as she narrowed her eyes with interest at the man.

"I apologize, but I'll have to tell you a bit about my backstory," the man said. "I, and the man who tried to kill you all are Managers of Fate."

"So you are supposedly spirits who control the destinies of living things?" Robin questioned.

"Tch, I don't believe that other things control our fate. We control our own fates," Zoro mumbled.

"You're both right. We can't control your decisions. But we control the path that your decisions lead you to. Think of it as we throw rocks at you. Depending on how you deal with it, we throw different kinds of stuff at you."

"Not the best analogy, but I kind of understand," Usopp sweat-dropped.

"That man and I are in charge of supervising the fates of those who carry the will of 'D'." The stranger crossed his arms as everyone's— except Robin— eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Most of those who have the will of 'D' have the power to drastically change the fate of the entire world, which makes them such a pain to deal with."

"The will of 'D,' what is it?" Robin asked.

The man shook his head, "You'll find out for yourself soon enough… Well, if you're able to save your captain. But, bottom line is, your captain wasn't supposed to die today."

"But he did die, and it's because of one of your companions. Why's that?" Sanji asked.

The man gave a deep sigh. "That man who got your captain killed, Cyril, didn't like a fate in store for the world that could result from your captain's actions in the future. I shouldn't be really telling you this, but those who have the 'D' initial — especially your captain at this point— have the power to destroy the entire world. Cyril didn't like the possibility of that happening, so he tried to kill him along with others who bear the same initial."

Half of the crew gasped at this revelation. Zoro just snorted, "Luffy can pull off many things, I'm not even surprised that he's capable of world destruction. But he can't be the King of Pirates if the world is destroyed. No way he'd allow himself to destroy the world"

"It's all more complicated than how I make it sound, and I'm afraid I can't explain further. Monkey D. Luffy's death is already causing the world to go down a dark path already. At this rate, there'll be a repeat of the void century, and I would prefer that to not happen."

Robin's eyes sparkled at the mention of the void century, but she kept her mouth shut, knowing she wouldn't get any answers.

"Since one of us, the Managers of Fate, directly intervened with your captain's life, and all of your lives, I am able to make an exception and give your captain a second chance at living," the man said.

"And your solution is time travel?" Brook asked.

"Great, then just turn us back in time a few hours and then we'll take care of things there," Zoro said.

"Sorry, it's not as easy as that. I'll have to turn you all back 5 years back in time. Oh, and Cyril will be alive, trying to kill him."

Chopper did a spit take, along with a few other members, "5 YEARS? That's almost three years before we even got to meet Luffy!"

"How the heck are we supposed to protect him from this Cyril guy if we were not supposed to even know about his existence by then?" Usopp exclaimed in confusion.

"We can just go to his island immediately and protect him there," Zoro said.

"Not so fast," the man held up a finger. "If you change too many events, not only might you drastically change the world you know now, but you may change the Luffy you came to know and love."

"Then doing something significantly different from the original timeline is probably not a good idea," Nami muttered as she rubbed her forehead. "How can we prevent the man from killing Luffy or changing the history of the world?"

"I can guarantee Monkey D. Luffy's life, at least, until his fateful encounters with you all," the man said. "I also doubt that Cyril will resort to drastic measures… unless he's gone insane, then you'll have to deal with it."

"Seriously, are you leaving the fate of the world in our hands," Franky exclaimed in disbelief. "We may be super pirates, but we're still pirates. You do know that, right?"

"It's this cruel world's humor that I must entrust the fate of the world to a bunch of misfit pirates like you. Even I can't do anything about it. If you all end up creating an entirely different timeline, then I'll deal with it when I have to" the man chuckled. "If you manage to kill Cyril and set this world back on the right track, then you'll all return back here in this time, in a world slightly changed by the actions you take in the previous five years."

"What?"

The man sighed, "If you succeed, then the current timeline and the new timeline created by you time traveling will combine and you'll find yourself back here without having to live out the whole five years.

"So all we have to do is kill that bastard so we can go back here?" Zoro summed up.

"Most of it. So, will you do it?"

There was no hesitation.

"OF COURSE!" the whole crew jumped up as they vowed to save their captain.

"Before we time travel though, we need to have a strategy for the three years we're separated," Nami said. "Should we all keep in contact or something?"

"No," Zoro said, "It wouldn't be fair to Luffy."

"Right, but…" Chopper's eyes watered. "That won't stop me from missing all of you!"

"Yohoho… Chopper-san, think of it as like the time we spent two years trying to get stronger for each other."

"Speaking of strength," Sanji turned to the man, "Will we still have the strength we have now when we go back in time?"

The man shook his head. "You will all be transported back to the bodies you had five years ago. You will still have the knowledge of everything you have here, so you could use those three years to strengthen your body and polish your skills."

"The great Captain Usopp will take the East Blue by a storm," Usopp nodded, but then a concerning thought struck him. "If we use these three years to become as strong as we are now, then won't Luffy be significantly weaker than the rest of us?"

"We'll deal with it when we have to," Zoro muttered. "But it's not like we want to repeat Sabaody."

"But if we avoid what happened on Sabaody, then that would be a major change, right?" Franky asked.

"Like the crap swordsman said, we'll deal with that when we have to," Sanji said.

Robin nodded, before looking at the man. "Is there anything about Cyril that we should have to know about?"

"Cyril has the strength of a typical New World Pirate," the man answered. "The only danger is that he's able to procure resources that he's not supposed to have. Like those seastone bullets and poison, he shouldn't have had that. I can only imagine what else he could get his hands on."

Sunny, who had been unusually quiet, decided to speak up, "Good luck guys! I look forward to being born again!" An infectious smile appeared on her face.

"Right Sunny! When I build you, you'll be 500% as perfect and super as you are now!"

"Alright! Let's do this guys!" Usopp yelled as he carried and placed a barrel in the center of the deck. He placed a foot on the barrel, bringing back nostalgia to the original East Blue members.

"To save Luffy! And to become a Brave Warrior of the Sea!"

"To find the All Blue!"

"To draw a map of The Whole World!"

"To become the World's Greatest Swordsman!"

"To find a Cure For All Diseases!"

"To learn the True History of the World!"

"To Travel the Whole World with The Sunny!"

"To meet up with Laboon!"

With all their legs on the barrel, they all nodded their heads. Once they raised their legs above the barrel, they made a resounding declaration.

"AND TO MAKE LUFFY THE PIRATE KING!"

The sound of a barrel exploding through the sky echoed throughout the dark skies as a blinding light consumed the ship.

* * *

She found herself on a ship talking to Sir Crocodile by a den den mushi. She was tense for most of the conversation, but she regained her composure once Crocodile started to dish out some orders for her. After that, Robin left not a second wasted and tried to gain a contact with the Revolutionaries.

She definitely did not do this in the original timeline, but something like having a connection with the Revolutionaries shouldn't prove to be world-changing. She would still be working with Baroque Works, just while also secretly working with the Revolutionaries.

It took a half a day until Robin made contact with a Revolutionary Officer, she asked about information on Dawn Island, Luffy's home. She expected something mundane like the weather or how the nobles were continuing to be asses in Goa Kingdom.

Her breath hitched and her eyes widened at the answer she received.

"The reasons are unknown, but the fate of the island ended with a Buster Call," the officer lowered his voice as he guessed that the topic was sensitive to the Archeologist.

"Buster… Call..?"

* * *

"Ugh…" Zoro groaned. He had been dealing with a hangover for the past few hours. He apparently wasn't very good with alcohol at this time. He was laying on the floor of the dojo while his teacher, Koshiro, just shook his head in shame.

"This is a dojo, not a tavern. You're setting a bad example for my students," Master Koshiro scolded the green-haired swordsman.

"Shut up," Zoro muttered as he rubbed his eyes. "It's night time so you're closed right now."

Master Koshiro opened his mouth to verbally assault his disciple further, but he paused. He noticed there was a commotion occurring somewhere on the island, where the docks were. He decided to spare Zoro from a lecture and headed toward the docks.

Zoro, also noticing that something was wrong, followed after his former master.

Once they reached the docks, Zoro was greeted with a sight he was pretty sure never happened in the previous timeline. A medium sized ship was docked in the island and it carried enough people to fully occupy a small town. They were all injured and crying, and they were all of different class statuses. Homeless, poor, middle, and noble class people all occupied the same ship, a sight not often witnessed in the world.

"What happened?" Master Koshiro asked one of the lesser injured people.

"Marine ships… suddenly out of nowhere… started bombing the whole island! They even attacked some of the nobles. Before… they destroyed the whole island… I reckon that the people on this ship are the only people who survived..."

"Which island?" Zoro inquired, having a bad feeling about this.

"Dawn Island."

Not sparing a second, Zoro dashed off into the ship to search for a certain rubber boy, ignoring the concerned shouts of his Master. He searched every spot of the ship twelve times— not because he kept getting lost, of course— and found no sign of _him_.

"THE HELL?" He roared in confusion, startling everyone nearby. It had only been a few hours since the time travel and everything was already messed up.

 _HOW THE FUCK DID WE SCREW UP SO BADLY ALREADY?_

* * *

 **Oh well, they tried.**

 **If anyone is willing, could you tell me when Dr. Hiluluk died and when Brook lost his shadow? (I'm not really great with timelines, yet here I am, making a time travel fic). Your help is much appreciated.**

 **Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. :)**


	2. Deadly Encounters

**My sincerest apologies. I posted this chapter out yesterday. But, as Emrys Akayuki pointed out, I may have kind of made an error. Yeah... I mostly scraped everything and rewrote a new one. Hopefully this new chapter follows the rules of One Piece more. Hopefully. (Sorry for flooding your inboxes with replacement chapters and the like).**

 **(For those of you who read the original chapter, you're going to realize that I split it into two. The other half, or quarter, is in the next chapter).**

 **Replies to Reviewers~**

 **Awareness Bringer:** Oh, thank you. I was so lazy that I thought I was going to have to have to write this whole thing from memory

 **Vuurvlieg** : I don't mind your speculations, actually, I find them quite insightful. Yep, Luffy's definitely going to be different... but not that different. You'll find out in a couple of chapters, but most things lovable about that character will be there (If I can manage to portray it right). I agree a lot with your thoughts on the crew's plan and how Luffy would be affected by it. That was what I found to be the problem with other "the crew goes back in time without Luffy" fics (Though, none of the stories I've seen have gotten that far so I can't really analyze). Welp, at least here, nothing ever goes according to plan! Although, the fact that they came from the future may cause some issues if kept a secret (I dunno, I'm just writing as I go XD). I'm sure most of your answers regarding Luffy's change and dream will be answered in this and next chapter. Revenge? The thought hasn't actually crossed my mind until you mentioned it. Luffy just doesn't seem the type to blame other people and only live to kill someone... He usually blames himself, I think. I agree, piracy is the only occupation Luffy can fit into... (Although it's going to be a bit different in the beginning). You pretty much hit the nail on how the crew will react with his dream taken away from him. And they would stop at nothing to give him back his dream. Oh... I hope I didn't spoil, but yeah, that's the general direction this story's going in.

 **drrainbowfish and Guest:** Thank you for the encouragement and support! I really hope you like this new chapter!

 **The Sleeping Zombie:** Thank you! (I didn't realize the poor skeleton had his shadow removed _that_ long).

 **Enjoy!~**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - Deadly Encounters**

In Marineford…

" _Pururururu…_ "

"Eh? Sakazuki's headed toward Dawn Island?" Garp tried to hide his concern by shoving a bunch of crackers in his mouth. It wasn't like he had a grandson who happened to be the son of the most wanted criminal there or something. "Does he have some business there or something?"

" _Pururururu…"_

"That's what I would like to know," Sengoku rubbed his forehead to soothe a migraine as he waited for his Den Den Mushi to connect. "The Celestial Dragons are making their visit to that island today. But I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to attack them, knowing that an Admiral would chase them. So it's unlikely that Sakazuki's there to play bodyguard."

The Den Den Mushi finally made the connection. On the other side of the line, a gruff voice spoke, " _Sakazuki here_."

"State your purpose for going toward Dawn Island," Sengoku ordered, clasping his hands together and placing his elbows on his desk.

" _Just chasing down a rumor that the son of Dragon is on that island_ ," the Admiral stated.

Garp suddenly started choking on his food.

Sengoku raised his eyebrows in suspicion at the actions of his subordinate. "You're not one to take action based on some rumors. Where did you get this information from?"

" _It was an anonymous tip on my Den Den Mushi. Claimed that the Devil's spawn is on that island_."

"Whoever it was obviously wants you on that island. Probably trying to lure you in to some useless trap," Sengoku sighed. It wasn't the first time something like this happened. "You have more important matters to attend to. Come back to Headquarters immediately."

"... _Fine_ ," Akainu ceded in annoyance.

" _Kachap._ "

"I swear, he stops at nothing trying to end the evil bloodlines," the Fleet Admiral sighed. "Gives me headaches every time."

"Yeah..." Garp couldn't find the will to laugh. He had a really _bad_ feeling that that wasn't going to be the end. As Sengoku got another call, Garp slowly managed to get himself to eat crackers again. It wasn't until Sengoku suddenly smashed his hands against his desk that Garp was snapped out of his worried thoughts.

"WHAT?" Sengoku shouted in disbelief. "This has to be some kind of sick joke!"

" _Kachap,_ " the call ended.

"Damn it!" the Fleet Admiral sweated bullets and rapidly started dialing on the Den Den Mushi. Without much waiting, a connection was established with another Den Den Mushi.

" _What is it now, you old goof_ ," Akainu muttered from the Den Den Mushi. " _I'm already turning back_."

"Go to Dawn Island, _immediately_ ," Sengoku commanded with a sense of urgency pervading through his voice.

" _Hmppf_ ," the Admiral snorted. " _Mind telling me the reason?_ "

"The Celestial Dragons there all got _shot_ ," Sengoku announced, much to the bafflement of both the Admiral and the Vice-Admiral.

" _Who's the fool?_ "

"Reports say there are multiple culprits. One is said to be a black haired boy with a straw hat. The other is said to be a man wearing a dark brown cloak. There are possibly others."

Garp abruptly stood up and headed for the exit. "I'm going to make a call," the Vice-Admiral announced before leaving the room.

" _You going to give me the order to destroy the island?_ " Akainu inquired.

"The _higher-ups_ are panicking. They want all offenders to be eliminated or captured so I'll prepare a Buster Call as a precautionary measure only to please _them_ ," Sengoku said. "I _don't_ expect it to be used."

" _Like I need a Buster Call to destroy an island_ ," the Admiral snorted.

"That's my point. We don't need to destroy an entire island. It's just that the _higher-ups_ are making _that_ big a deal of it."

" _Whatever._ "

* * *

 _30 minutes ago~_

"Mnn… Ace… I'm gonna beat you this time for sure," A 14-year-old Luffy murmured in a dream-like state. "Wait 'til I turn seventeen...zzz…"

He was suddenly awakened by the sound of a bear growling. Remembering that he was sleeping in the middle of a gigantic forest full of animals that could kill him, he sat up and set sights on the dangerous predator… or his prey. He drooled, "Meat…"

Before he could do anything though, he could hear a bunch of gunshots ring through the air. Immediately, the bear collapsed. Luffy made a sound of annoyance when he found the person responsible for taking his prey. "That was supposed to be mine!" he complained.

"My bad," the person, identified as a man covered in a dark brown cloak, said. "I'll make it up to you."

"You'll let me eat the whole bear?" Luffy drooled more, eyes sparkling with hope.

"No," the man said, much to Luffy's disappointment. "I'll treat you to a meal in the Goa Kingdom."

"Really?" The boy didn't look too excited, but he didn't turn down the offer. "You're a nice person, what's your name?"

"Cyril," the man answered, before walking with the straw-hatted boy out of the forest.

The two didn't hold much of a conversation as they walked on the the forest trail; the boy singing about meat did not count. Once the two reached the Grey Terminal, Luffy asked, "Hey, are you from here?"

"No, I'm not from Dawn Island," Cyril answered truthfully as the two walked through all the junk of Gray Terminal.

"Thought so," Luffy said, earning a curious glance from the man. "It didn't _feel_ like you were around from here."

"Feel?" Cyril inquired.

"Ace calls it some sort of instinct," Luffy turned to look directly at the man. "To be honest, my gut's telling me that you're pretty strong. But since you're giving me food, you must be a good person then. And it's fine if you don't end up being good, 'cause I'm strong too. I've been training for as long as I can remember!"

"Oh? Why have you been training?"

"To become stronger!"

"For what purpose?" Cyril asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"To become Pirate King!" Luffy declared, ignoring the uninterested tone in Cyril's voice. "It's my dream."

Once they entered the city (through questionable methods), Luffy noticed how quiet it was. Peeking around a corner, Luffy saw all the people on the streets kneeling or bowing down. He felt a cold shiver as he caught a glance of white robes. _It's that time again._

Luffy had to restrain himself from walking in the path of the Celestial Dragons because if he got too close, he knew he would end up trying to beat the crap out of all of them. After all, the bandits told him that these were the people responsible for Sabo's death. Unfortunately, Dadan made him promise, _swear_ , to never get close to them.

Biting his tongue, Luffy decided that now would not be a great time to eat a meal here. He wanted to turn back, but Cyril had other plans. The man pushed Luffy back as he took the spot behind the corner, and he raised his gun.

Luffy's eyes widened as he heard multiple bullets discharge from the gun, each bullet piercing through a Celestial Dragon. The sound of the gunfire echoed throughout the silent air. Then, everyone burst out screaming, finally processing what had just occurred. What was simply supposed to be a day of peace og greetings to the Celestial Dragons, turned into a day of absolute chaos. This wasn't just _some_ massacre. It was a massacre involving the death of Celestial Dragons. Hell would be unleashed. There would be no mercy. Every single person panicked as they tried to get out of the area, pushing and hurting everyone in their way in the process.

Luffy suddenly felt an object get pressed into his hand. It was the gun. Quickly turning around in a cold sweat, the boy could see no signs of Cyril. It was like the man just vanished. "Huh?"

"IT WAS THAT BOY! HE SHOT THE CELESTIAL DRAGONS!" a noble screamed, catching sight of Luffy holding a gun with smoke coming out of it.

"Not good!" Luffy muttered to himself as he bolted away from the scene. Stealing food was one thing. It was another thing to kill those people. He didn't understand why Celestial Dragons were so important, but he knew that killing these kinds of people was something completely different and could actually give Luffy a bounty. He didn't want to have a bounty before he became a pirate. He wanted to start fresh.

The worst part of this whole dilemma was that Luffy didn't get any of his promised food. "Dang it!" he cried for his poor stomach. Once he finally exited the city, he noticed that there wasn't an angry crowd of police officers or anybody chasing him. In fact, they were all going in a different direction, shouting things like _ship_ and _escape_. But more shrieks filled the air, as more sounds of gunfire could be heard.

News of this incident somehow spread throughout the entire island like wildfire. Luffy was surprised to see that even the residents of Gray Terminal were scrambling around in fear.

He thought he was safe when he ran into the forest, unknowing of the dangers that would soon meet him.

* * *

"Shooting the Celestial Dragons," Cyril muttered to himself as he continued to terrorize the people of High Town. With his Naginata, he sliced through everyone in range while occasionally shooting a rifle (stolen from a guard) in random directions. "Check."

"Terrorizing the people," he looked at the bloody and dead bodies on the streets. A few bombs exploded in various parts of the city. "Check."

"Making it look like a large group was behind this," he placed certain objects in the clothes of some of the dead bodies. "Check."

"Admiral Akainu." As if the devil had been summoned, Cyril saw magma rain from the sky. "Check."

A large drop of magma landed directly in front of him, quickly taking the shape of a terrifying man known for his mercilessness. A man who strictly upheld _Absolute Justice_.

"I take it that you're the one behind this whole mess," Akainu growled as he grabbed Cyril's neck, raising him in the air and putting him into a chokehold.

"No," Cyril said bluntly. "There aren't many people who could lead such a daring attack like this one. And I can assure you that I'm not one of those people. Only people..."

The Admiral tried to detect any lies from the man, but the man's face was shadowed by the dark brown cloak. And even then, Akainu wasn't even sure if there _was_ a face.

"Like Dragon…" Cyril mused, causing the Admiral to tense up in fury.

Cyril's body started to become transparent.

"...Or… _his son_."

Before Akainu could break Cyril's neck, Cyril just _vanished_. His body just _disappeared_ without a trace before the Admiral's eyes.

…

Cyril reappeared in the nearby forest. His hand was clutching on to a very important object. A Golden Den Den Mushi.

"The obliteration of Monkey D. Luffy…"

He pressed the button on the peculiar device. He hummed.

"Check~"

* * *

Luffy found himself still holding onto the gun. He wasn't the type to hold on to such weapons since he was so incompetent with them. Plus, he named his own moves after guns so he didn't need any. But right now, he had a _feeling_ that he would need it.

He spotted the bandit's hideout and noticed that everyone was panicking there too.

"Hey Dogra!" Luffy called as he grabbed the arm of a fairly short bandit. "What's happening?"

"Oi! You gotta get outta here! We just caught wind that some idiot attacked the Celestial Dragons!" Dogra shouted as the other bandits dispersed from the hideout.

"So?" Luffy cocked his head to the side. That thing happened at the kingdom. THey should be fine if they were in the forest.

"That means an Admiral's going to come and chase down every evil-doer! If he sees us, he's probably going to kill us too since we're bandits!"

"Admiral? As strong as gramps?"

" _Stronger_ than Garp."

"EHHH?" Luffy shrieked.

"Oi, what are you two fools doing, acting like sitting ducks?" An orange-haired bandit pulled the scruffs of their necks. "Go on and leave already!"

"Dadan?" Luffy looked at Dadan innocently. "Are we going to leave the island?"

"Unless you have a really good hiding spot, then we have to leave. We can't afford to be seen by the Marines," Dadan sighed.

It suddenly started to get really hot… and the bright blue sky suddenly started to fade into an eerily red color.

"Is it me, or is it getting really hot here— " Dogra screamed as a pool of magma suddenly fell from the sky and landed on the bandit's home. "Magma?!"

"Of course it had to be Akainu," Dadan snarled as she watched the building and the nearby trees burst into flames. "Garp says he's the worst one to run into."

Dadan quickly pulled along Dogra and Luffy as she made a run for it, but immediately stopped when she saw someone in the way.

"THAT'S AKAINU?" Dogra screamed at the sight of a large man with cold, determined eyes.

"Woah," Luffy was breathless. "But Gramps is still scarier."

"Bandits, huh?" Akainu spoke with a sharp voice, causing the bandits to flinch. "What a waste of time."

Magma started oozing out from the Admiral and suddenly shot out towards the trio.

The three quickly dispersed, barely dodging the shots of magma.

"The heck? His whole body is magma!" Luffy yelled in shock as he tried to regain his balance. "That's so cool!"

"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE ADMIRING HIM!" Dadan screeched. "RUN!"

Akainu caught a glimpse of black hair and a straw hat. He then set his full attention to the boy. His whole body started to turn into magma and he suddenly charged toward Luffy. The rubber boy barely managed to get out of the way of the attack. His shirt, however, caught on fire.

After patting out the flames, Luffy quickly found a blast of magma fly toward him. He was quickly pushed to the ground by Dadan before the magma could burn his face.

"Where's your boss, boy?" Akainu growled.

"Boss?" Luffy scowled. "I work for no one!"

This was obviously not the response the Admiral was looking for, as he suddenly started to generate a large amount of magma from his body. Dadan realized to some extent what he was going to do. She also realized that Akainu's only target was Luffy.

She quickly picked Luffy off from the ground and stared him dead in the eye. "Run Luffy!"

"NO! Let's fight him together!" Luffy protested. This was going to be like the situation with Bluejam. They have dealt with fire maniacs before, they could deal with them again, especially since Luffy was much stronger now.

Before Akainu discharged a wave of magma in their direction, Dadan threw Luffy into the air toward another part of the forest as hard as she could.

"NO! DADAN!" Luffy shrieked and his eyes widened as figured out what the Admiral was going to do.

"AND NEVER COME BACK!"

Those were the last words he heard before he watched the wave of magma burst forth and

consume everything in its path, including the bandit who he came to love.

"DADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

* * *

"Please get on the refuge ships, everyone."

"W-Why? What are you planning to do to our village— no, the whole island?" Mayor Woop Slap asked.

The other residents of Foosha village shared uneasy glances. They saw government vessels all lined up against the coast of the island. Makino stood at the back of the crowd, thinking about the safety of a certain boy.

"We have been informed that a group of highly dangerous revolutionaries has made this island their base. It's our job to eliminate them," the government official said.

The villagers did hear about someone attacking the Celestial Dragons today, but it was so unbelievable that they ignored it.

"This is for your own safety," the government official continued. "We will initiate our _attack_ regardless of whether you leave or not."

This produced a wave of shock and disbelief within the villagers. Unwillingly, one by one, the villagers started to board the refuge ship.

A certain bartender stayed behind.

"Makino!" the Mayor called. "What are you waiting for? Get on!"

Makino stiffened. She looked toward the forest and saw it on fire. "Luffy..." she muttered as she turned around and headed away from the ship.

The government official just shrugged as he was the last to board the ship. "Set sail!" he ordered.

* * *

Luffy saw himself land near the edge of the forest. He knew he was close to Foosha village. Oddly enough, he landed on something soft. He found himself on the top of a very pissed off tiger. What was even more weird was that the tiger made no attempt to shake Luffy off. It had its attention toward something else.

Luffy noticed that there were a whole lot of animals gathered in this area. There was a mix of all kinds of animals, predators and prey, large and small, et cetera. Even alligators that would normally stay in the river were out here on land. Here, there was no difference among them. Once the temperature started to rise significantly, the boy knew the reason why these animals were suddenly so united.

All the animals glared at the direction where Akainu suddenly appeared, parts of his body were dripping with magma. Luffy realized that the animals sensed that if they left this _man_ alone, then their home would be destroyed.

All at once, the animals charged toward the deadly Admiral. Luffy wanted to fight too, but he remembered the last words of Dadan. Wiping away the tears that had washed down his face at some point, Luffy ran until he reached the end of the forest.

There, he saw tons of huge ships, with appearances kind of similar to Gramp's ship, all surrounding the coast of the island. The fleet was floating on top of a sea that reflected the crimson sky; it was like a sea of blood. He suddenly saw the ships suddenly start to barrage the island with explosive cannonballs.

Luffy didn't know what to do. Behind him was a crazy magma man trying to kill him. In front of him was a line of ships trying to kill the island. Both spoke of only his death. He suddenly heard a voice that he was very glad to hear.

"Luffy!" a certain bartender rushed toward the boy. She seemed relieved that the boy was fairly unhurt.

"Maki—!" he cut off his exclamation when the whole forest suddenly erupted in flames and he was suddenly picked off the ground and felt a burning sensation in his shoulder. He realized that the Admiral finally caught him and was now holding him in the air, gripping onto his shoulder with a magma hand.

"LUFFY!" Makino screeched as she hurriedly rushed toward the two.

Akainu glowered at the boy while melting the boy's shoulder with his hand. "Where is he?" he shouted with rage. "WHERE IS DRAGON'S SON?"

Luffy barked back whilst trying to ignore the immense pain from his shoulder. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! AND EVEN IF I DID KNOW, I WOULDN'T TELL YOU BECAUSE YOU HURT DADAN!"

Makino was in the corner of his vision when he angrily proclaimed, "AND I WON'T LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE!" With the gun that was still in his clutches, Luffy pointed the weapon at the Admiral's neck.

Akainu didn't seem fazed as if he knew that the gun would have no effect on his body.

Luffy shot a bullet through the Admiral. Akainu was stunned as he felt pain and weakness surge through his body. The bullets _actually_ pierced him and _blood_ spurted out. He released his grip on the boy and clutched the side of his neck, where the bullet hit.

Falling, Luffy shot another bullet. It hit Akainu's abdomen. Before Luffy could unleash a counterattack on the magma Admiral, Makino quickly grabbed a hold of Luffy and bolted to the forest, where she hoped the trees would hide them. They could feel the dangerous glare of the Admiral on their backs.

They ran for minutes in the burning forest. Smoke filled their lungs and blazing trees crashed everywhere. But Makino didn't regret her decision to escape into the forest. It would've been more suicidal to head toward the docks with a Marine hot on their tails.

Suddenly, a familiar man blocked their path. Luffy's heart rate sped up even more, if that was even possible considering his endless brushes with death. It was the man covered in a dark brown cloak, the one who shot the Celestial Dragons. "You—!" he also noticed a bloodstained spear on the figure's back.

"I see…" the man said. "That Admiral is still no match for your _luck_ even _now_."

Ignoring the obvious detail that Cyril probably killed a bunch of people just recently, Luffy held his fists up and angrily shouted, "You never gave me any of that promised food!"

"I never planned on giving you any food," Cyril deadpanned.

"That's fine," Luffy growled as smoke puffed out from his nose. "Gives me a reason to kick your ass!"

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy chanted as he stretched his arm and shot it toward the man. Instead of punching the lights out of the man like the rubber boy had intended, his fist was easily caught by the man.

"Oh, how the tables have turned," Cyril laughed as he plunged his naginata into the boy's arm.

"GAH!" Luffy shrieked as pain surged through his whole body. The man pulled out the naginata from the boy's arm before the boy retracted his arm back. Luffy quickly recovered his balance, not giving a moment's rest to grab to —burning— trees to launch his entire body toward toward the man. "Gomu gomu no Rocket!"

Cyril snorted in amusement as he simply just pointed his spear out in front of him, letting the rubberboy skewer himself. However, Luffy was charging through the air headfirst, so when his face was supposed to get impaled by his force against the spear, he opened his mouth wide and clenched the metal part of the naginata with his teeth.

Luffy couldn't shatter the metal with his teeth, but he did catch Cyril off guard. Since Cyril was expecting Luffy to just harm himself, his hold on his weapon wasn't as strong as it should have been. So Luffy, with the force of his 'rocket', was able to overpower the man and have the blunt end of the naginata thrust into the man's stomach.

Luffy quickly made a somersault and landed nicely on the ground, while Cyril fell on the ground with a slightly bruised chest. With the opening, he leaped through the air and stretched his arm, speeding toward the direction of Cyril's face. Cyril made to attempt to dodge the attack, appearing as if he was very confident in his defense.

At the collision of fist and face, there was no real impact. Cyril's body, or even his head, didn't fly backward— something that usually happened when Luffy punched the lights out of deadly animals.

"What the—" Luffy gasped, then suddenly, he felt his back against the ground. In the flash of a second, Cyril was standing with his foot on the rubberboy's chest. Luffy tried to intake a large amount of air to use his 'gomu gomu balloon', but Cyril's foot stayed firm in his chest. Luffy then tried to use that gun again, but Cyril grabbed it out of his hands immediately.

"Nuh uh uh, this is mine," Cyril smirked as he waved the gun in the air.

The straw-hatted boy pouted, but he obviously hadn't given up. He attempted to stretch his limbs to coil around the Cyril, but before he could, he felt a bullet shoot through severely burnt shoulder.

Luffy expected the bullet to bounce off as usual, but it didn't. That mystery bullet actually pierced into his skin. His stretched limbs immediately snapped back to regular lengths and angles, and he felt an overwhelming feeling of weakness surge through his body.

"It's pointless to struggle against me," Cyril stated as he pointed the gun at Luffy's head. He thought for a second about directly killing the boy and making an ultimate change to the world's fate. "This is for the best."

"STOP!" Makino screamed. Up until now, she had been nervously watching, hoping that Luffy would be able to defeat this mysterious man. "Just let us go!"

"I can let _you_ go," Cyril said while swinging the gun in his hand, relieving Makino for just a second. "But _him_. He must die today."

Luffy bit his lip. He wondered why there were so many psychos bent on killing him today.

"No…" Makino breathed. "Why do you want to kill such a young boy?!"

" _No reason_ ," the figure replied.

"STOP IT!" Makino screamed as she threw herself at the man and tried to grab the gun.

"Makino…" Luffy groaned weakly.

"Women," Cyril sighed as he didn't seem to budge. "Always willing to give up your lives for a _disaster_."

"HE'S JUST A KID!" the bartender screeched.

"Get out of the way Makino!" Luffy pleaded as he grabbed her ankle. "This is my fi— "

Bullets, without warning, rang through the air.

Luffy helplessly watched the bullets pelted his caregiver's chest, causing her to collapse to the ground.

"MAKINOOOOOOOO!"

He wanted to scramble to her side, but the man's foot wouldn't allow him to move. And for some reason his rubber abilities weren't working. "MAKINO!" he cried. He immediately glared up at the man and then suddenly bit the man's leg.

Unlike with what happened with the punch, the man actually reacted and showed pain. It was enough for Luffy to escape from under his foot and embrace Makino.

"Don't… you dare die!"

"Luffy…" Makino smiled weakly and tears streamed down her face as she tried to look at Luffy through blank eyes. "You made life really fun… Thank you so much for that..."

"No, no, no! Don't look like that! Please! I haven't paid my debt back to you! You can't die too!" Luffy shook her, even though that did more harm than good. "Please don't die!"

Makino was able to use the last of her energy to lift her arm and pat Luffy's head. "I love you so much… so please… keep smiling… please… live on."

Makino's life quickly vanished before the boy's eyes as her body suddenly went limp.

"NO!" Luffy's mouth slowly kept opening and closing as if he was trying to say something but couldn't find anything to say. He kept shaking her, partly because his body couldn't stop shaking itself. "WAKE UP! Don't— Don't leave... Makino..."

He tightly held Makino's body in his arms while tears spilled on her lifeless body. He was crying in front of his enemy, but he didn't care about that. He couldn't care about anything anymore. His life was doomed anyway. No one was going to save him. _Ace wasn't here_. At the thought, he struck his fist on the ground. Cyril watched carefully to listen to the boy's remorseful bellows.

"IT'S ONLY BEEN A FEW MONTHS SINCE ACE LEFT AND I ALREADY MESSED EVERYTHING UP!" Luffy screeched as he looked up at the unforgiving sky. He _regretted_ trusting the man. He was supposed to live a life with _no regrets_ , but he screwed that up too. "WHY CAN'T I BE STRONG AND HELP THE PEOPLE I LOVE? WHY IS EVERYONE DYING FOR ME?! WHY CAN'T I DO ANYTHING TO STOP THIS?!"

He felt something break inside of him as he remembered hearing himself say that he would get stronger to protect everyone. He spent the seven years after Sabo's death getting stronger. So no one else had to die. But nothing! He was stronger but he couldn't protect a thing! _Dadan's dead! Makino's dead! What were those seven years for?_ He then stifled a sob before roaring, "WHY AM I SO DAMN WEAK!"

Cyril felt a chill go up his spine. There was no doubt that it was the release of Conqueror's Haki. _But it was too weak and too late to do anything. After all, it only stemmed from self-hatred, a characteristic not worthy of a king._

"So that Ace kid isn't here… I was hoping to snuff out the life of two 'D's today," the cloaked figure muttered to himself, out of Luffy's hearing range. "Oh well, he'll be gone in three years anyway."

Luffy felt the cold steel of the gun against the back of his head.

"Any last words?"

Luffy clenched his teeth while his tears still streamed down his face. "S-so that no- no one else has to die to protect m-me…" His straw hat fell off his head... as a sign that he was going to break every promise he ever made in his life. "Even though I haven't even started my journey… I- I WOULDN'T MIND DYING NOW!"

The cloaked figure snorted.

"With pleasure."

At the sound of gunfire, the world, as Luffy knew it, was over.

* * *

One second he was pushing a gun at the back of the boy. The next second, just before he pulled the trigger, he found himself crushed against a burning tree. The bullet pierced through the air, hitting no one.

Cyril quickly looked at the culprit who was responsible for launching him away from the boy. He seethed in anger at the sight of a large man who wore a hat with bear ears.

"Bartholomew… Kuma," Cyril hissed.

Kuma stared at the cloaked figure, trying to decide whether or not to kill him now. He turned his attention toward the boy who was only hanging on to life by a thread. Kuma could tell that the boy had no desire to live anymore, so he would die faster if he didn't receive any medical attention quickly.

The Shichibukai gently picked up the boy. With one last glance at the cloaked figure, Kuma vanished from the island.

Cyril cursed, "I can't touch him if he's in Dragon's hands!"

With an angry sigh and a resolution to stay patient. The cloaked figure vanished from the island too. He would be patient... the boy couldn't be protected forever.

* * *

Akainu plucked out the bullets from his body. They were obviously seastone bullets, but he couldn't figure out why such a young boy would have something like this. He didn't think that the revolutionaries would just carelessly give a boy a gun equipped with seastone bullets. Though, it was possible that the boy could have stolen it.

Before continuing his pursuit of the straw hat boy, he suddenly noticed the cannon fire from a horde of ships at the coast. It looked like a Buster Call. He furrowed his eyebrows, he didn't remember requesting for one. He checked his coat for a certain Golden Den Den Mushi. He still had it, tucked in the pocket he remembered leaving it in. It also didn't look like it was used either…

But that didn't matter. In High Town, he remembered checking a few bodies that indeed had objects that only revolutionaries or government officials could have. Most signs pointed to those people being revolutionaries though. He also remembered sinking a few ships because he thought— knew— that there could be revolutionaries on those ships.

If there were revolutionaries in the city, then there were bound to be other revolutionaries on the island. A Buster Call was a surefire way to eliminate all of those revolutionaries and their base.

There was no escaping now. That boy with the straw hat would die from either the forest fire or from the Buster Call. There was no point wasting energy to kill him. If Dragon's son was still on this island then he would die too. If not...

All Akainu had to do was eliminate any revolutionary who might have escaped from the island... _by eliminating all the escaping ships._

 _For Absolute Justice._

* * *

"I thought I told you to not use the Buster Call!" Sengoku angrily yelled at Akainu through the Den Den Mushi.

"What does it matter? It got all those revolutionaries dead," Akainu argued. "Anyway, I didn't use it. It was issued while I was trying to kill the revolutionaries _with my own hands_."

Sengoku grit his teeth as he ended the call. Sakazuki wasn't one to tell a lie about this. _But then who could have done it? Kuzan and Borsalino couldn't have done it. Was it possible that the Gorosei did? Anyone who had the guts to slaughter a group of Celestial Dragons was a huge threat to the World Government..._

He glanced at Garp who was gloomily eating crackers on the couch.

"What do you think of the possibility of one of the Golden Den Den Mushi being replicated, or even duplicated?" Sengoku asked the Vice Admiral.

Garp didn't give any response as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Garp!"

The old man stopped stuffing crackers in his mouth and solemnly stared at the Fleet Admiral. "Possible… especially if a devil fruit was involved…"

Sengoku leaned back in his chair. "That's what I was thinking too…" He closed his eyes. The idea of someone outside of the World Government being able to issue a Buster Call was frightening. He'd have to come up with some measures to prevent this from ever happening again.

Meanwhile, Garp was lost in deep thought. _You better have gotten there in time, Dragon._

* * *

Sabo was curious when he saw Kuma suddenly appear back at headquarters with slightly tinged clothes and a smell of burnt rubber. The blonde's eyes slowly rested on the child that was carried by Kuma's arms. It wasn't unusual that the revolutionaries would save children. But to bring them back to headquarters?

Burnt, bruised, bleeding, pale, et cetera. The child was not the picture of health. But Sabo took notice of some, more interesting features. Like the scar under the child's left eye, and the messy black hair, and the—

Sabo froze. He saw his whole life before he got amnesia flash before his eyes. Then, a sudden Protective Brother Instinct he didn't know he had suddenly switched on.

With inhuman speed, Sabo snatched what he just now learned to be his little brother, and bolted toward the infirmary with great gentleness.

* * *

 **Don't expect such quick updates like this. I just happen to be on break (which just ended).**

 **Surprisingly though, most of the research I did in this chapter was on what Garp's favorite food is. And I still don't know what it is. So I just stuck with crackers. Does anyone know what Garp's favorite food is? XD**

 **Thank you for reading! ~ April 1, 2018**

 **P.S. If I messed something up, feel free to tell me. I** _ **love**_ **rewriting whole chapters (sarcasm).**


	3. Changing Journeys

**Replies to thee Review's** (in horrible Shakespearean):

 **FairyAlchemist400:** Thank you! I also can't wait until I write the parts when the crew reunites with Luffy, but I hope I can keep it interesting until then.

 **Guest:** Dang it! I was so close! I knew it was some type of cracker!

 **drrainbowfish:** Thank goodness, I'll keep trying to do my best for all you people's entertainment!

 **Lightningblade49:** Hmm... I did think about revenge for a second, but I don't think you'll find what you're looking for here.

 **Vuurvlieg:** Ah, well, I wouldn't want you to waste your time reading something that is uninteresting to you (especially if it's my story). I'll say thanks for at least giving this story a chance.

 **Dejdem:** Hahaha... I'll keep that in mind (meaning the thought didn't cross my mind at all before... XD)

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - Changing Journeys**

There were no more ships. There were no more people. Even while completely desolated, the island still blazed. The fires were roaring like they represented the unfulfilled wishes of the lives lost today. This was the island's last breath. The sight would only be seen by one man.

From a small boat rocking in the restless, empty waters, stood a young man. He jumped off from the boat and landed on the fiery land. With each step, the ground beneath him broke apart.

For a while he had a really bad feeling. He didn't know how to explain it. He had been adventuring and living the life of a pirate as usual, when suddenly a wave 'homesickness' hit him. It wasn't really a feeling of longing to go back home. It was a feeling that there was something _wrong_ with home. He thought it would go away after he fell asleep, but it didn't. So to relieve his feelings of _worry_ he decided to go to the source of it all.

And after a couple days of quick travel with his crew, he arrived here. On an island ablaze and covered with the dead remains of what used to lie here. He told his crew to stay on the ship.

The flames didn't seem to bother him. His focus was set on the burning hearth of the island. Where a large forest, home to many proud creatures, stood, a plethora of flames took its place. The fire wouldn't stop screeching.

The man walked to the front of the vortex of flames covering the forest. His eyes landed on something buried in ashes.

It was a straw hat. A straw hat that had seen many adventures and dangers. It gave an impression of being indestructible, as it was miraculously untouched by the inferno.

The man grabbed the straw hat and patted off the ashes. His fingers gripped the brim of the straw hat. The fingers' grip was so tight acting like the hat could disappear at any moment.

Slowly, he placed it against his chest. His wavy, black hair shadowed the eyes that allowed tears to stream down his freckled face.

So this was the _bad feeling_.

It was to represent everything he unknowingly lost.

For minutes, he thought if he should just be engulfed by the flames in peace. But if he did, then the life of the island would die. It would be forgotten. The flames were still screeching at him about their unresolved goals. But he only cared about three now.

He turned away, to leave the island that was once known as his home. As if to signal his departure, all the flames started to die down.

Yet a new flame started to burn.

* * *

"Oi! Is that… Vice Admiral Garp?"

"There's no doubt about it. It's Garp the Fist! Wonder what he's doing here?"

"Idiot! He's here to eat! This _is_ a restaurant."

Sanji finished cooking yet another meal and he turned his head to look at the gossiping chefs.

"Hey, where are the waiters? Someone has to take his order!" Patty barked as he washed the dishes.

"They all quit," Carne bluntly stated. "Again."

"Then you take his order!" Patty forcefully suggested as he waved a frying pan around.

"I'm not talking to a Vice-Admiral! I have a _past_! You do it!" the shorter chef hissed back.

"No, you do it!

"You!"

Sanji cooly pushed past the arguing chefs and headed toward the exit of the kitchen.

"I'll do it," the blonde chef announced, completely surprising all the chefs in the kitchen.

"Eh? Sanji?" They all knew Sanji wasn't the type to volunteer to be a waiter. Especially for a _man_.

Sanji calmly approached the old man. He held up a pen and a notebook. "May I take your order," he asked, unusually civil.

Garp snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at the blonde young man. He then focused his attention to someone else walking in the distance, approaching him.

"If it isn't Red Leg Zeff," Garp announced, completely ignoring Sanji.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Garp the Fist?" the Head Chef crossed his arms as he tried to detect the intentions of the Vice-Admiral.

Sanji indifferently stood still. He could use this chance to gather information about what was going on with the world. He knew something obviously changed, as he didn't remember a visit from the Vice-Admiral, but he didn't know _what_ it was.

"I thought I would visit an old enemy and take his food," Garp smirked emptily. Truthfully, he just didn't want to be around the Marines right now. "I'm also en route to a certain island, or, what _was_ an island."

His eerie last words sparked chills in the bodies of the two listeners.

" _Was_ an island?" Zeff furrowed his eyebrows."Don't tell me you Marines did something stupid again."

Garp's silence was enough to answer Zeff's question. Sanji tried not to make his facial expression change as he wondered what _it_ was.

"Yes… the island is no more. There's going to be a memorial service held there soon," Garp was visibly shaking. "Some friends and _my grandson_ were living there during the attack. I don't know who's safe and who's dead..."

Zeff, with no emotion showing on his face, stared at Garp in silence. He knew Garp wasn't one to talk about his past, especially to pirates, let alone former pirates.

Sanji stiffened as he looked at the Vice-Admiral. He could feel feelings of fear and regret radiate off the old man.

"Heh…" Garp chuckled hollowly as he slowly stood up from his seat. "I guess I wasn't hungry after all.

Before Garp exited the room, Sanji mustered out a voice, "Wait."

It was quiet, but it caught the attention of both old men.

"Please, take me with you," Sanji requested, earning confused looks from the old-timers. "I have a friend who lives— lived there."

Zeff curiously eyed his employee. He didn't remember the little eggplant ever making any friends ever. He nodded, giving the brat his approval of going.

The Vice-Admiral shrugged and was about to deny, but he saw a determined look in the young chef's eyes. It reminded him of his grandson's eyes.

"Okay."

After his co-workers surrounded him and barraged him with questions about his suspicious behavior, Sanji boarded the ship. He didn't really look back at his former home and workplace, since he knew he was going to come back shortly. He ignored the fact that the chefs were fake crying about never seeing him again. They were just fooling around though.

He could see a few marine soldiers on the ship. It seemed like there were fewer than there should be.

"Understaffed?" he asked.

"I only brought people who needed to come," Garp replied.

Once he stood firmly on deck of Garp's marine ship, he felt a very familiar and annoying presence. It reminded him of a certain Marimo.

"Shitty Swordsman!" Sanji growled as he looked at the green haired man who was silently sitting against the railing, "What are you doing here?"

Zoro slowly opened his eyes and saw Sanji. He then closed his eyes. "I should ask you the same thing, crap Cook. Don't you know that this is a Marine ship?"

Sanji's swirly eyebrow twitched. _He's too stubborn and too much of an idiot to hold a conversation with!_

Garp noticed the two's strange interaction. He scratched head as he had a perplexed look plastered on his face. "You know him?" Garp asked.

"I'd be happier if I didn't" Sanji shrugged as he frowned at the yawning swordsman. "What's he doing here?"

Garp scratched his beard. "Well… I don't know the details, but… Once I set sail from some island, I found that this brat stowed away on my ship. It appears that he mistook this ship as a fisherman's boat."

Sanji just stared dumbfoundedly at Zoro. "THIS IS THE SECOND FUCKING TIME! First it was a pirate ship, now it's a Marine ship, how much dumber can you get?"

Zoro's eyes flew open as he growled, "Shut up curly brows!"

The Swordsman bitterly remembered how, after learning about the Dawn Island incident, he resolved to get as strong as fast as inhumanely possible. So he set off his island— much to the protest of his teacher— and tried finding some tough opponents. However, he got caught up in a horrible storm, which was rare in the East Blue, and he got shipwrecked on some island he had never set foot on, even in his Pirate Hunter days— Or maybe he did, he just didn't remember. Since he was starving, he asked a man if he could use a fishing boat to fish. He somehow ended up on a Marine ship and it set sail before he could do anything. It sounded like one of those stories Usopp would make up: an unbelievable story. Only, it became believable when it involved Zoro.

"Oh, it's on!" Sanji yelled as he lifted his leg. He'd finally put this Marimo in his place. There were no usual flames, since his past body couldn't handle that power yet.

Zoro rose up and unsheathed two of his swords. "Bring it!"

Before they could actually fight, Garp ended the both of them with his fists. The two proved to be no match for the more ruthless form of his fist of love. "You guys really remind me of my grandson," he muttered as he ordered the marines to prepare to set sail.

Zoro and Sanji stayed sprawled out on the deck as they reminisced about their captain. They thought about the very different situation from the previous timeline. Luffy plus a destroyed home island did not bode well for their future adventure.

Then they thought about the pain throbbing in their bodies.

 _Luffy might be hurting way worse. Or he might just be fine. In any scenario, they had to get stronger._

 _So when they start their adventure alone._

 _So they could continue it together._

 _And so they would all be standing when it ended._

* * *

 _Success_ , Nami thought as she sailed under a beautiful sunset. She had just stolen a bunch of treasure from a few unfortunate pirates. It was so much easier to do so, with her knowledge and experience of the 'future'.

Once again, she was piling up a fund to buy back Cocoyashi village, but this time, she had no intention of giving the money to Arlong. The fishman had no intention of keeping the promise anyway. Oh, she could not wait for the boys to beat him up again and savour the look of Arlong's face of defeat once again.

Nami caught a glance of a Pirate ship headed her way. The mark on the sail looked familiar, and it sent an odd feeling through her body, but she ignored it.

She was about to continue to mind her own business, but she heard a very familiar voice call out to her from the ship.

"OIIII! NAMIIIII!"

 _It couldn't be_ , Nami sweated. She glanced at the helm of the ship, to find a familiar long nosed sniper waving at her.

"Usopp?" she gasped in surprise. To her knowledge, Usopp wasn't supposed to be on any pirate ships this early, since he was too much of a coward to go sailing with real pirates back then.

"IT REALLY IS YOU!" Usopp yelled in glee, while gaining the attention of the other pirates in the ship.

"Oi Usopp, you know her?" A man with curly dark blonde hair asked. He was wearing a headband with the letters 'YASOPP' written on it. "Is she your girlfriend? Oh, my boy has grown up so fast~"

"Dad!" Usopp lightly punched the man and tried to conceal a faint blush on his face.

"AS IF!" Nami yelled angrily.

"Oh right. That girl, Kaya, is your girlfriend, right?" Yasopp grinned.

"DAD!" Usopp covered his face with his hands as his father laughed, along with other pirates who eavesdropped on the conversation.

"BWAHAHA, HE'S SO INNOCENT!" the other pirates on deck laughed.

"Oh, but what's your connection to that girl anyway?" Yasopp asked.

"She's," Usopp suddenly straightened up and had an air of confidence around him. "My future crewmember!"

"What does she do?" one of the pirates, Lucky Roo, asked while munching on a large piece of meat.

"Nag."

The long nosed sniper suddenly had the lights literally kicked out of him as Nami suddenly appeared on the ship and swung a kick at his face… breaking his nose in the process. Usopp collapsed onto the floor in agony.

Nami wore a crooked smile as her eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "It's only been four days and you suddenly have the audacity to say that, huh?"

All the other pirates paled in fear.

"I- so sorry…" Usopp groaned.

Nami suddenly stiffened. She realized that her habit of hitting her crewmates for being annoying has led her to get on board this unfamiliar ship. She turned to the pirates and her eyes drifted toward the sail again. Her memory sparked.

"Th— THIS IS RED HAIR SHANKS' SHIP!" she screamed in surprise and slight fear. Sure, Luffy was good friends with him, and Usopp's dad was in his crew… but after brushing with death with the other Yonkos, she couldn't help to feel _a little_ scared.

"It's fine Nami," Usopp consoled her. "They won't hurt us."

"Ah, but," the navigator faced her friend. "What are you doing here? Why? How? I thought we had an agreement to not do anything drastically different. If you don't call this different then I don't know what is."

"Well… " Usopp lowered his head. "It's regarding Luffy… You see, he may have gotten caught up in a Buster Call."

Nami's eyes widened in shock. Buster Call? Like the one at Enies Lobby? Sure they survived it, but they were strong and together... and they still needed miracles to escape one.

"There's apparently a funeral being held for all the lives that were lost that day on that island. That's where this crew is going. They stopped by at my island, and I asked if I could come with them after resolving some other matters," Usopp said. Those other matters involved his dead mom and his father, but he wasn't going to disclose such delicate matters, especially now.

"So you're part of Luffy's crew too?" Lucky Roo asked, while continuing to munch down on a piece of meat.

Nami looked bewildered at the question. How would he know? How could anyone outside of the crew know? He narrowed her eyes at Usopp. "You told them?"

Usopp leaned close and whispered to her ear, "I only told them as a lie. They think it's just a made up story."

Nami nodded in understanding. It was like Usopp to tell stories that actually happened with a little twist. Like how he retells some of Luffy's achievements as his own. Here, he's telling the truth as a lie. Not like anyone would believe the story anyway, but telling it was probably a good way to vent out some emotions.

"Luffy's crew, huh?"

A voice came from the open door of the captain's quarters. There stood a Yonko. Red Hair Shanks.

He wasn't as intimidating and scary as Big Mom or Kaido or Whitebeard. He looked like an normal man. Or perhaps he could be more closely compared to a normal drunkard. His face was flushed and he looked absolutely dazed. His first-mate, Benn Beckman, had his arms crossed as he shook his head. "Oh Captain, you drank too much this time. Our supply's already almost gone again."

Shanks pouted as he turned to look at his first-mate. "But Bennnnnn… " his words were slow and slurred. "I sssswear, i-it wasn't meee…"

Benn sweatdropped. "Tell yourself that when you get sober."

"Wee'll... just restock at Maki— " Shanks frowned and shook his head. He stumbled toward the two guests, to shift his mind from less unfortunate matters. He looked at both of them intently.

Shivers ran through both Nami and Usopp's spines. They were being sized up by a Yonko. A drunk one at that. Despite meeting him earlier, Usopp still felt a little bit unnerved. He was a drunk Yonko first and foremost in their minds. A terrifying power.

They both tried, but failed, to keep their composure. It was hard to not notice the bullets of sweat that dropped from their chins or the uncontrollable shaking of their bodies.

Shanks suddenly laughed, scaring the crap out of both of them.

"It's good to know that he'll be in good hands then!" the Yonko smiled, still drunk but sounding crystal clear.

"Excuse me?" Nami asked, obviously confused at Shanks' sudden outburst.

"If you're his future crew, then Luffy will be in good hands," he clarified as he walked past them and leaned on the railing of the ship.

"Ignore him, he's drunk," Benn said. Nami and Usopp nodded.

"Will? You think he's alive?" Usopp asked. He didn't believe that Luffy was dead either. They didn't go back in time only for Luffy to die younger.

"He's… gonnabe big," Shanks started to slur his words again as he rested his head on the railing. Yet no word was missed by any of the pirates. "If hedied, then I feellikeI... would know…"

Nami and Usopp both flinced. When Luffy was dying, they didn't have any feelings. They only found out via obvious clues and the vivre card vanishing before their eyes. There was no feeling.

Or maybe there was a feeling. Did they wake up to a different world that day? Did they feel that something was missing? They couldn't remember. And they wanted to make sure they wouldn't be reminded of the feeling.

"Zzzzzzzzzz…."

"Oh, looks like the Captain fell asleep," Lucky Roo stated.

"Good, let's go drink up the rest of the booze before he wakes up!" the pirates cheered.

Benn shook his head in disapproval of the pirates' activities as he warmly smiled. "One more day 'til we reach our destination…"

Usopp looked at Nami. "Are you going to stay and watch the funeral?"

"Yes," Nami nodded solemnly, "Luffy probably won't be there to pay his respects, so let's do it for him."

"He'll be okay…" Usopp said, confident that his Captain will be able to bounce back from this. "It's Luffy, and…"

"When we meet again, we'll help him shoulder it all."

* * *

Once the sun set once more, the Red Hair Pirates could see an island that was stained pure black. It was covered with ashes and debris. Surrounded by an atmosphere of death and abandonment, the 'island' looked like it couldn't keep itself together anymore. It was as if it would break down at any moment now.

"What _is_ that?" Usopp gasped at the sight. It looked like a deformed lump of coal floating in the ocean.

"Dawn Island," Yasopp said. "It's a surprise that this much of the island is still there."

Nami and Usopp gaped. Sure, they witnessed a Buster Call firsthand, and they heard the stories from Robin, but they never actually saw the result. Though it should've been obvious, from the amount Enies Lobby had been attacked with and the fact that Robin said that a Buster Call can wipe off an island from a map.

"That's… really horrible," Nami covered her wide opened mouth. She couldn't imagine drawing an island… then learning that that very island was destroyed, like it never existed.

Nami and Usopp had seen enough of the Marine's Justice to know that they're willing to go through great lengths to eradicate what they deemed a huge threat.

From the distance, they saw other ships approaching the island. Most looked like passenger ships filled with people who had connections with the island.

"Ughhhh… I feel horrible…" Everyone turned their heads toward the Captain of the ship, who woke up for the first time in 19 hours.

"You drank so much Captain," Yasopp said. "Our entire supply of booze is gone."

Shanks' eyes widened in disbelief. "No way! We just restocked from Gecko Island just a couple of days ago!"

All the Red Hair Pirates laughed. They would not disclose the fact that they had a drinking party the previous night while he was knocked out.

"HEY!" Shanks yelled, obviously aware that his crew was playing a trick or something.

Nami laughed, but she had a feeling of jealousy swell up in her. She missed the times when the Straw Hat Pirates would have fun and pull numerous pranks on each other. It would be a long time before they would have those fun times together again. She looked at Usopp who seemed to share the same feelings.

They suddenly saw a Marine ship sail right next to the left side of their ship. It was obvious who the ship belonged to, judging from the figurehead of a dog.

"Oi! It's Garp!" one of the Pirates shouted.

The pirates heard a voice from the ship, belonging to the feared Vice-Admiral himself. "Well look here, if it isn't Grandson stealer!" Garp greeted the pirates with a scowl.

"Hmmm?" Shanks turned his head to face Garp from his ship. "What? Come to arrest us?"

"Nope!" Garp grinned. "Just you for being such a bad influence on my dear grandson!"

"Hey!" Shanks yelled. "At least he loved us! I hear he always ran away in terror at the sight of you!"

Nami and Usopp noticed that all the witnesses from the passenger ships were feeling uneasy and scared. And they had all right to be. After all, it's not every day that Garp the Fist and Yonko Red Hair Shanks got into a fight. Heck, it wasn't normal to see a Yonko in these waters.

"Yeah right! I'll show you what true love is!" Garp held his fist up as he glared down at the Yonko.

"Oh yeah?" Shanks taunted as he glared back. "Bring it on!"

"Shanks. You're still drunk… somehow," Benn sighed. "Back off, we're not here for this."

Shanks growled as he kept staring at the Vice-Admiral, but he kept himself restrained.

"You're still such a child sometimes," Lucky Roo laughed.

Nami and Usopp relaxed. They knew a fight between those two would not be so pretty, so being in a such close proximity to the two would not bode well for them. They were surprised when one of their names were called from the Marine ship.

"NAMI-SWAAAAAAAAAN!"

 _It really couldn't be_ , Nami sweated. She and Usopp glanced at the helm of the ship, to find a familiar blonde cook with swirly eyebrows.

"Sanji-kun?!" she gasped in surprise. _What was he doing on a Marine ship— On GARP'S ship?_

"NAMI-SWAAAAAAAAAN!"

"Oi! What about me!" Usopp screamed at the blonde chef, though he should've expected as much.

They saw a couple of heads pop out from the deck of the ship. Most were marines, however, one was Zoro.

"Oh, it's that witch," Nami could somehow hear Zoro mutter.

"DON'T CALL HER A WITCH!" Sanji roared. The two then engaged in combat.

"ZORO TOO?" the two pirates on the pirate ship exclaimed on disbelief. _Did they somehow get caught even though they weren't infamous pirates yet?_

"WHAT?" It was Garp who screamed. "You scum are friends with those pirates?"

"Uh… yeah…" They forgot that they were on a Marine ship.

"THEN SCRAM!" Garp picked up the Swordsman and the Cook by the scruffs of their necks and launched them toward the Red Hair Pirates ship with insane strength.

The two were powerless as they flew and created large holes in the deck of the ship.

"ACK! GARP'S TRYING TO SINK OUR SHIP!" one of the Red Hair Pirates screamed.

"Okay! That's it! I'm going in!" Shanks yelled as he attempted to attack the Marine ship, however, he was restrained by many of his crew members.

"Give it a rest, Shanks," Benn rolled his eyes, but he still smiled.

Now started some explosive bickering between a Vice Admiral and a Yonko.

"Ah," Nami gasped as she looked at the two holes in the deck. "Sanji-kun? Zoro? Are you okay?"

Suddenly, a blonde man in a black suit leaped out of the hole and swooned over to Nami. "YES! SORRY FOR WORRYING YOU, NAMI-SWAN! " It had truly been forever— five days— since he last saw the beautiful maiden.

"Yeah, don't do it again," Nami sweat-dropped. It had been a while since she saw Sanji do this. "By the way, what were you doing on Garp's ship?"

"We hitched on for a ride," Zoro muttered as he climbed out of the hole in annoyance.

"For the memorial service?" Usopp asked.

The two men nodded.

"Ah, but it sure has been a while. It's nice to see you all again," Usopp grinned, even though it had only been almost six days now.

"I don't care about you bastards! I'm just happy I can see Nami-san's face again!" Sanji proclaimed.

"Oi, it wouldn't hurt to show a little concern for us, you know," Usopp sweatdropped.

"Like I need that pathetic cook to look worried for me," Zoro snorted.

"What was that? You shitty swordsman! I can arrange for a way for no one to ever worry about you!" Sanji yelled as he tapped the floor with his foot, getting a feel for how stable the floor with two holes was.

"What a coincidence! I have a way for you too!" Zoro snarled as he grabbed his katanas.

"STOP IT RIGHT THERE!" Nami yelled as she pummeled both of the men. "Geez, can't you be civil around each other for even one second?"

"Never," both of them replied simultaneously.

"Things never change," Usopp laughed as sweat was visible from his face.

"Huh? Isn't that the Yonko, Shanks?" Zoro questioned as he finally laid his eyes on the red haired man.

"You only now just realize?" Nami raised her eyebrow in annoyance.

"Shitty swordsman was too entranced by me," Sanji snickered, while feeling a bit disgusted at what he said.

"Only in your dreams," Zoro spat. "Like you have any captivating characteristics that would work on anyone."

"Oi! You really want to die now, huh?" Sanji yelled.

"Like I could die to you!" Zoro shouted.

The two were once again pummeled down by Nami. Usopp took a step away from her. "Ah, I forgot how scary she was…"

"What was that, Usopp?" Nami slowly turned to face Usopp with a sinister grin.

"NOTHING!" Usopp screamed.

"Mellorine~! You're still beautiful when you're angry!" Sanji quickly recovered as he swooned around the pirate thief. He then suddenly had a nose bleed. "Does this mean… that I get to see you develop into the mature woman you'll be first hand?!"

"As perverted as ever, Ero-cook," Zoro rolled his eyes.

"Changing the topic," Usopp slowly said. "What do you guys think about the sudden change in events?"

The others fell silent. There would have been a tense atmosphere if it weren't for the Vice Admiral and Yonko comedically arguing in the background, to everyone else's peril.

"I can only assume that the Cyril guy is behind this," Zoro said.

The other two agreed. Seemed like the only plausible explanation if the man was so bent on killing Luffy.

Nami rubbed her temples as she thought about the more important subject at hand. "If he did this, then he has gone _insane_ like that fate guy said could happen. This means we can expect more things like this, or worse than this, to happen," she sighed. "This is not good."

Sanji took out a cigarette and lit it. "If we believe that fate guy, then Luffy's safe… at least until he meets one of us. He'll be alive. And we know that we'll reunite someday."

"Right," Zoro agreed with the cook for once. "We didn't go back in time only for Luffy to die before he even did anything."

"Speaking of fate…" Nami said as a new concern struck her. "What do you think of our fate right now? Do you think it's just a coincidence, that the four of us are here together?"

"There's no way. We're not that lucky," Sanji said. "Maybe we're being given another chance to rethink our plans… since things have obviously changed…"

"Yeah, but we're probably not going to meet up with the rest. We'll have to make a decision without them. Doesn't that seem unfair?" Usopp asked.

"Well, it's usually that captain who makes these decisions, but we've been most unfair to him by bringing him into a messed up world. I'm sure the others can handle some 'unfairness'," Zoro shrugged.

Nami sighed while putting her hand against her face. "This is so messed up. I was hoping that we would just relive the same adventure as last time, but that's probably not going to be the case…"

"Well, that's Luffy for you," Sanji snickered. "I don't know what happened on that island, but it's possible that he may have been the main cause for this change of events. It's like it's his gift to us. To not have a boring and 'predictable' adventure."

"He always did like not knowing what was ahead of him. Staying in his crew means we can't know what the future has in store for us either," Zoro smiled. "Cool, I thought I'd be bored for these five years."

"It might be fun for you guys, but I thought we could have an easy life for once," Usopp sighed.

"Never on this crew," Zoro smirked.

Sanji laughed, "What kind of brave warrior of the sea signs up for an easy life?"

That shut Usopp up.

Nami leaned over against the railing, while being greeted by the many more dozens of ships arriving at this memorial service. "But still, Luffy might not be the same when we meet him again. Like, what if he becomes like one of those dark, brooding characters or something?"

"This is Luffy we're talking about… Luffy will be Luffy," Zoro said. "And even if he doesn't want us on his crew, we'll still follow him… one way or another. We didn't come here to create a world where he never meets us."

"I know, I know," Nami groaned. "But so many things could go wrong."

Usopp laughed "How is this any different from our previous adventures?"

Nami let out a small laugh, broken free from all the worrying for just a second. "I suppose you're right."

"So what's the plan now?" Zoro asked the obvious question that flooded their minds.

Before any of them could answer, another ship sailed right next to the Red Hair ship. It had a very familiar mark on its sail.

"Hey! Isn't that one of Doflamingo's marks?" Nami gasped as Usopp screamed at a sight more terrifying. He pointed at two people standing on the deck of the ship.

The others were shocked beyond belief as well.

"Doflamingo and— " Zoro exclaimed.

"Crocodile!?" Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth.

Usopp gripped his head in stress as she screamed, "WHAT ARE THEY DOING TOGETHER?"

"I'm pretty sure they didn't get along in the previous timeline," Nami muttered as she carefully eyed the two Shichibukai.

"Doesn't look like they're getting along now," Zoro said as he pointed out the fact that Crocodile looked bored and annoyed while Doflamingo was maliciously smiling as he stared at the island.

The presences of the two Shichibukai was brought to the attention of the pirates and marines. Shanks and Garp were also broken away from their argument at the new development. A collective gasp of shock was heard.

"The fu— "

"They couldn't be here just to 'mourn'."

"They're planning something."

Among the more normal people were questions like how could one island be connected to the infamous Vice-Admiral, a Yonko, and two Shichibukai.

Whispers of the like spread throughout everyone in the memorial service. Doflamingo seemed amused at this reception while Crocodile looked like he wondered how he got involved in this situation.

All the voices were hushed when another, but very extravagant, ship appeared.

"What?! Now Celestial Dragons?" Usopp gasped, but he kept his voice at a quiet level.

"I heard that a few Celestial Dragons were killed in the incident," Zoro said.

"WHAT? What sort of idiot would do that?" Nami wanted to scream, but the whole area was now quiet, so her voice would definitely heard.

"It was an idiot," Zoro remembered the accounts of all the survivors of the incident. "They said a boy with a _straw hat_ shot him."

"You mean— "

"We know Luffy doesn't shoot people. However, he really did end up in the center of this whole mess," Zoro said.

A Celestial Dragon stood at the front of the ship, visible to everyone like he wanted to announce to everyone.

"I'm glad this island's destroyed!" he proclaimed loudly, his voice was missed by no one. Restrained tension rose from everyone else.

"It was a breeding ground for monsters that killed my brothers and sisters!"

Nami covered her ears. She didn't want to hear such words of hypocrisy. _They_ were the ones that were monsters that killed so many people's families.

The Celestial Dragon's pet dog then proceeded to pee in the water right in front of the island.

"They never cease to sicken me," Sanji muttered.

That appeared to be all the Celestial Dragons wanted to do as the ship already started to turn around and leave.

"That's it?" Usopp exclaimed in disgust. "They only came to spit in the face of everyone who lost something here from the incident? They didn't even pay any respects to their own that died."

"We've seen them do worse," Zoro said.

After that scene by the Celestial Dragons, the rest of the attendees stayed silent. Since it was already silent, they might as well have the moment of silence now. Some dropped flowers or items of significance onto the island.

After a while, more ships started to leave, signalling the end of this memorial service. The whole thing wasn't ideal, since it started with powerful world figures arguing and ended with a Celestial Dragon spitting in everyone's faces. But, it was the thought that counted.

Sanji looked back at Garp's ship, then looked at the retreating figures of the other ships. "You know, it's weird, how only one Marine ship — with barely a normal amount of marines on it— was here. You'd think they'd apologize for going too far or something."

"They want to keep a good front. The majority of the world probably don't know that the Marines were responsible for this," Nami muttered.

Soon, the pirate ship of Doflamingo and Crocodile left. The pirates carefully watched the ship leave. Surprisingly, they did nothing extreme.

"That was anticlimactic. What do you think they got out of this?" Usopp asked.

"Nothing good," Zoro answered.

* * *

After the Vice-Admiral exchanged deadly glares with the Yonko one last time, Garp's ship was next to leave.

As the Marine ship drifted back towards the Grand Line, it intersected paths with a small sailboat. No one expected that the sail boat would line up next to the hulking Marine ship. The man on the sailboat then proceeded to board the Marine ship to all of the Marines' surprise.

"What do you want?" Garp growled, though he took note that the man did not look like a pirate. The man dressed in clothes expected of a normal civilian, but what made Garp feel uneasy was the fact that this man had a perfectly symmetrical face. It was unnatural, no one was born with a perfectly symmetrical face.

The man grinned as he stared at Garp with determined, but malicious eyes.

"I want to join the Marines," the man said.

Garp narrowed his eyes, something told him he should stay cautious around this man. "Your name is?"

"Cyril."

* * *

The only ones left were the Red Hair ship and a couple of small passenger ships.

Usopp and Nami released the breaths they didn't know they were holding. That was an intense memorial service.

"So…" the Straw Hat Pirates' attention was drawn to Shanks, the one who broke the silence. "You're all part of Luffy's future crew?"

Both Sanji and Zoro raised eyebrows in confusion. Nami eased their confusion by revealing that Usopp told the pirates some 'made up' stories.

"Yeah," they all said with pride.

Shanks, who now seemed fully sober, eyed them curiously before he suddenly laughed. "Dahahaha! You must all be idiots!"

They opened their mouths to argue, but they couldn't really disagree.

"WE ARE!" They really were idiots, but they were damn proud about it since it brought the best thing they could never regret into their lives.

All the pirates laughed at what the Straw Hat Pirates admitted to.

"Who's your first mate?' Benn asked.

"Don't have one," Zoro smirked.

"Sounds just like Luffy to not follow the classic rules of pirating," Shanks chuckled.

"Wait, don't tell me you actually believe Usopp's story?" Sanji raised an eyebrow.

"Why would I not believe my son?" Yasopp grinned as he brought his son in for a hug.

"Oi, oi…" Nami sweatdropped. "You might need more father-son bonding time…"

"Luffy always said that he'd get a crew that surpassed my own. You all look like you're growing to fit that part," Shanks smiled. "Plus, you all look like you all care for him whenever he's mentioned."

"Thanks?" Nami said to the first part. She didn't deny the second part.

"Say, we might as well do his crew a favor," Shanks said, looking directly at the crew. "We'll drop you off anywhere you'd like."

The Straw Hat Pirates then looked at each other uneasily. With the Dawn Island incident, the world was sure to completely change one way or another. Witnessing Doflamingo and Crocodile on the same ship together was proof of just a piece of that. And even with a changed timeline, they were sure to face those two again. If they wanted to be fully prepared, they had to be stronger than they had been when they first started this adventure.

Yet such a task would be hard to do if they stayed in the weakest sea.

"I'll stay at my island," Usopp spoke. "I have to prevent that black cat butler from getting what he wants. Plus, we need to make sure we get the Merry back"

"I also have to stay since I have to deal with Arlong…" Nami said.

"Why don't I just kick Arlong's butt?" Sanji suggested, to present Nami with different opportunities and to get her out of her 'slavery' early.

"Hmm…" Nami thought about it.

"I'm staying at the restaurant," Sanji declared. "As much as I'd like to piss Owner Zeff off, I can't have him worrying about me. I'll stay until that old geezer knows I'll be following a man he can trust."

"Hmph, better learn to cook real food since your fighting's going to be useless," Zoro snickered.

"Shut up," Sanji growled. "I have a feeling I'll be getting pretty tough customers in the future. I can train by beating them all up."

Nami sweatdropped. Well, training was training.

"I'm going to the Grand Line," Zoro announced, receiving gasps of shock and concern from the crew.

"O-oi, are you sure about that Zoro?" Usopp looked at the green-haired swordsman incredulously. "You might somehow end up in the New World and somehow find One Piece or something."

"You really have no faith in me."

"Yeah right, you'll just get lost and die in a storm," Sanji rolled his eyes.

"Hey, are you actually worried about me, Crap Cook?" Zoro taunted.

"In your dreams!" Sanji yelled.

"Then…" Nami had a light bulb flash over her head. "I'll go with him, after you guys beat up Arlong."

"WHAT! I can't leave my precious Nami-swan with that idiotic Marimo!" Sanji screamed with disapproval. "I'll go with you!"

"Hey, what was that about not wanting Zeff to worry about you?" Nami sweatdropped.

"That old geezer can protect himself. But I have to protect you!" Sanji argued. "I have to protect you from _him_!" he pointed at Zoro.

"Oi…" Zoro looked annoyed.

"No! Sanji!" Usopp grabbed the chef's arm. "What about me? If you three all go to the Grand Line, then I'll be the only weakling!"

"Are you saying I'll be a weakling if I stay here?" Sanji growled while Zoro laughed.

"No! I need someone to keep me in shape!" Usopp said. "I'm asking you to train me."

"You won't get much stronger if you train under him," Zoro commented.

"We don't even have a similar fighting style. What could I possibly help you with?" Sanji pointed out.

"That Observation Haki stuff or whatever you call it," Usopp said. "I used it back on Dressrosa. As a sniper, I need to strengthen it as much as possible."

Sanji clenched his teeth. He looked at Usopp, then to Nami. His choice should've been pretty obvious.

"Fine, fine," he surrendered. Whatever will strengthen the crew most so no one dies again.

"Okay! Then it's settled," Nami announced. "Usopp will make me a weapon before we drop him off at his island. Then, we kick Arlong's butt. Then we drop Sanji off at Baratie. Then, we hijack a pirate ship. And finally, Zoro and I will set off in the Grand Line."

"Won't you guys try to tell the others?" Usopp asked.

"If we're lucky," Nami sighed. "But we probably won't be able to get into contact with Robin or Brook for reasons involving the Shichibukai."

"We should be able to get into contact with Chopper and Franky at least," Zoro said.

"As long as your sense of direction doesn't start to act up again," Sanji scoffed.

"We'll be fine… I hope," Nami sweatdropped.

"So that's your decision? Drop you all off at Gecko island and you'll handle the rest?" Shanks raised an eyebrow in amusement. They barely took his offer.

"Yep, we're a pretty self-sufficient crew," Nami smirked.

"Well, we have to be since Luffy's our captain," Usopp sweatdropped.

Shanks grinned along with the other pirates. "Till we see each other again!"

They all raised their arms to the limitless sky.

"At the top!"

* * *

 **That was a pretty hard chapter to write, but I did it! Hopefully it's decent enough.  
**

 **Question of the chapter: Did Blackbeard attack Drum Island before or after he killed Thatch? It sounds obvious that it should be after... but I see it possible that it's before if no one knew he was secretly a captain of another crew.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	4. Family

**Replies to Reviews~**

 **FairyAlchemist400:** I'm glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for answering the question... man I'm really surprised by that too. And this is why I ask you guys these questions instead of assuming my memory is right (cause it obviously wasn't right in this case) :3

 **drrainbowfish:** Thanks, I will try my best for it to stay good! I also hope you don't fall out of your seat, that could hurt. Would you believe me if I said this was supposed to be just a fun comedy story? XD

* * *

 **Chapter 4 - Family**

He wanted to reach that large white piece of paper.

But his legs finally surrendered and he could no longer find the energy to move. The paper was out of his reach.

He just wanted to get that paper back. It represented a life too important, too precious to him. The life had to keep burning brightly, to show the world.

The Magma Admiral suddenly appeared in front of him with an obsessed glow in his eyes. The Magma guy was blocking his path to the paper.

With magma drenching his arm, the Admiral threw his fist toward him.

He was going to die.

But there was something that took the blow for him.

It was the thing that was too important, too precious to him. It was what the paper represented.

It was the man that showed the world his fire.

The too important, too precious man collapsed into his arms. The man smiled even though there was a massive burning hole in his chest.

He was stunned. He held the man tightly, like he knew if he let go, the man would disappear.

Some words were spoken by the man, but they were unheard.

He just wanted the too important, too precious man to stay with him. To not leave him alone.

Still frozen, he watched the man fall to the ground, seemingly at the same time as his whole world collapsed.

 _NO!_

It took him awhile to process everything, because he didn't want to process anything.

And despite how much he lied to himself,

His fire was gone forever.

* * *

Sabo sat in a chair next to the bed that his little brother had been resting in. More than a week had gone by since the incident.

Resting his chin on his hand, Sabo continued to watch his unconscious brother who was covered in bandages. That detail didn't concern Sabo as much as it was weird seeing him without that straw hat. The boy and the straw hat always seemed to be one. They were inseparable. Now it was gone.

The Revolutionary spent most of his time replaying thoughts of why Dragon would go out of his way and order Kuma to save Luffy. _Barely anyone outside the island knew the existence of the rubber boy, so how could Dragon know and why would he care?_ Sabo got answers from neither Dragon nor Kuma, however, he was just grateful that Luffy was alive.

But that would lead him to more concerning questions. The events that occurred on Dawn Island were mostly a mystery since the whole island was blown up and there were few survivors that could tell a _reliable_ tale.

Although, because he was too busy watching over his little brother and busying himself with these types of questions instead of doing his actual job, he was delegated with the duty to peel potatoes.

"Oh potatoes," he muttered to himself as he placed a cleanly shaved potato in a crate overflowing with identical cleanly shaved potatoes.

During these times of silence, Koala would sometimes pop into the room and tease Sabo by saying, "Brother Complex~"

Like now, actually. Sabo jumped at the sudden noise and accidentally cut himself. He didn't make any noise of discomfort.

Sabo turned his head to glare at his companion and retort. However, he had no defense for his actions, resulting in his cheeks flushing. The sight would always cause Koala to smirk and chuckle a bit. She would have never expected the strong and fierce Sabo to have a side like this.

"How is he?" Koala asked, as she pulled out a chair next to Sabo and sat on it.

"The usual," he couldn't hide the nervousness in his voice. It had been eight days since Luffy's arrival, and he still hadn't woken up.

"Still worrying about how you'll greet him when he wakes up?"

Sabo shook his head, "He's probably going to punch me or something before I get the chance to greet him."

"Haha, you deserve it since he thought he had a dead brother for seven years," the girl chuckled. "Speaking of which, have you made contact with your other brother?"

"I couldn't," Sabo furrowed his eyebrow in annoyance at the thought of his other brother. "Ace's movements have been so erratic and rushed that there's no telling where he'll be. He's been acting like there's no tomorrow."

Sabo closed his eyes. _Not like I can blame him. Ace thinks that both his brothers are dead, so he's probably trying to carry out all our wills..._

"If only I could reach him..."

Koala noticed the Sabo's lip start to quiver. She took that as a cue to give the blonde some time alone, so she left the room to continue her duties.

 _Just imagining the pain Ace must be going through for thinking he lost not one, but both of his brothers is heart-wrenching._ He covered his eyes with one of his hands _._ Unconsciously, his other hand reached out to his younger brother's hand and squeezed tightly.

He was forcefully taken out of his thoughts as a scream suddenly shook the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCE!"

The culprit of the scream was quickly embraced by Sabo's arms.

"Shhhh… Luffy, it's okay..." Sabo gently whispered into his younger brother's ears as he held him tightly while the other thrashed his arms everywhere as if trying to reach for _something_.

Luffy's eyes were first unseeing of the real world. He was just replaying the horrible vision inside his head while he wailed in agony.

"DON'T GO! ACE!"

"Ace is okay… Ace is okay..." Sabo assured. He was sad that his little brother had a nightmare about Ace so soon after the Dawn Island incident. Although, he couldn't deny that he was a little relieved that Luffy was finally awake."It was a dream… He's alive."

"A… Dream," Luffy croaked as he finally realized he was in an unfamiliar room, being hugged by an unfamiliar man. But it wasn't an unfamiliar man. Luffy could see a lot of fire when looking at the man. Memories of the first fiery night at Dawn Island flashed before his eyes. He somehow made the connection.

"Sabo?!" he gasped as the blonde man nodded. "But you're—? Oh… I'm dead."

He remembered the events of the second fiery night at Dawn Island. He was getting a lot of visions of death. "I must've died…" he concluded as a whisper.

Sabo shook his head as he smiled warmly at his brother. His body was shaking with joy. "No, Luffy. _I'm alive_. You're alive. We're both alive."

The older brother was suddenly squeezed by Luffy's tight, rubbery hug. The boy's face was buried in his chest, soaking his clothes with many tears.

"You're alive?! I'm alive?!" Luffy cried out in joy, "Is… Ace alive?"

Sabo nodded as patted his younger brother's head. "Yes, we are all alive."

Luffy cried more. For the joyous revival of the flames.

But he did know who did die. Gloom took control of him once again. His fingers dug into the back of his brother as he tried to stifle a flood of sobs. "But Dadan and Makino… Everyone..."

Sabo stayed silent. He expected it, but he didn't want it to be true, that Dadan and Makino were dead. He sorrowfully continued to hold his brother who was drowning in sadness.

"I— I did something really bad," Luffy's breath hitched as he raised his head up to look directly at Sabo with his grief stricken eyes. "They died protecting me… And yet I still..." Luffy bit his lip to keep his mouth from shaking too uncontrollably. "I still said that I wanted to die! I told him to kill me! Even after all they had given up for me! What's wrong with me?!"

Sabo stood there, stunned. His fists clenched angrily as he growled, "Who?"

Luffy looked through his watery eyes at Sabo in confusion, to say that he didn't understand what the question meant.

"Who did you tell to kill you?" there was so much malice in his words.

"Cyril…" Luffy frowned then shut his eyes as he recalled the time Makino was killed. He flinched at the memory, before succumbing to a wave of dread.

Sabo immediately found himself walking toward the door. Even with the only clue being a name —and only a first name at that— he was going to do everything he could in his power to track down this man and butcher him himself. But he suddenly felt a tight grip around his arm. Sabo turned to look from the stretched arm to Luffy's face.

"Please…" Luffy grit his teeth as he tried —but failed— to not let anymore tears fall. "Don't… don't go. Don't... leave me."

The words were barely audible, but Sabo caught each one. Sabo mentally slapped himself. _And how could I just leave my little brother alone without second thought? Luffy first._

Sabo took a seat next to Luffy on the bed. The two brothers sat in silence together as Sabo simply let his presence calm his younger brother down.

"Don't leave…" Luffy quietly repeated, his messy mop of black hair shadowing his despondent eyes.

"Idiot," Sabo lightly bonked Luffy on the head, causing the younger to look up at him in confusion. "What kind of older brothers would we be if we left you?"

"Bad ones," Luffy meekly replied with a frown, his eyes still downcast.

Sabo smiled as he ruffled Luffy's raven hair. "Let's make sure that doesn't happen."

* * *

"Well, this is a surprise," Shanks said as he studied the guest.

After dropping off Luffy's crewmates to their desired location, the Red Hair Ship sailed back to paradise. Before returning to the New World, they docked on some random island to restock on more booze. There, Shanks met a very peculiar young man and his crew. It was the super rookie all the newspapers had been obsessed with recently.

They decided to take their conversation in a private room in an inn. The mayor of the village said they would not charge them, mostly because he was fearful for the village's safety.

This young man claimed to be Luffy's older brother and that he had been wanting to thank him because Luffy had looked up to him so much.

"Your name is Ace, right," Shanks grinned, though there was something about the man that was making him remember his younger days with Gol D. Roger. "I didn't know lil' Anchor had an older brother! Let's drink to celebrate!"

Ben, the only other one present during this conversation, chuckled, "You always find an excuse to have a drinking party."

Ace visibly tensed up and the temperature around him appeared to rise. After taking a few, long deep breaths, Ace calmed down. He reached for the hat hanging around his belt and presented it to Shanks.

"Here," Ace gestured for Shanks to take back the straw hat.

The Yonko shook his head and frowned. "You're not the one who's supposed to give this back to me," he said.

Ace rose his voice. "Don't you understand? Luffy will never be able to give this back to you!"

Shanks' voice deepened," I'm only going to accept this hat from one person. You are not person!"

"Isn't this your treasure?"

"It is. But there is someone who needs this more than I do."

"Fine! We're both pirates that live however we want. You can continue living in delusions by believing that Luffy's still alive!" Ace yelled as he hung the hat around the side of his hip again.

"I assume you'll be living in _reality_ then?" Shanks frowned.

"Depends on how you define _living_ ," Ace grumbled darkly.

"As in more destructive behavior on the sea?"

No answer. The room was filled with long, depressing silence.

As Ace started to stand up to leave, deafening screams exploded from the outside.

"IT'S WHITEBEARD!" Many civilians cried out in terror.

"WHAT? WHY ARE THERE TWO YONKOS HERE?!"

"THIS VILLAGE IS DOOMED!"

Chaos and mayhem was inevitable as the civilians either hid or tried to take up arms to defend themselves from the pirates. Unfortunately, those who did try to fight back were knocked unconscious by the beastly aura of the most powerful man in the world.

"RED HAIR!" a voice, unmistakably Whitebeard's, boomed from the outdoors. His voice alone knocked out even more horribly unfortunate civilians and weak pirates.

"Captain," Ben said as he looked at the captain.

"My, I wonder what would bring him here? I don't think I tried to steal his beer recently," Shanks rubbed chin in thought as he grinned. "Although this does make things easier. I was thinking about speaking to him soon anyway."

Suddenly, the door (and most of the wall) crumbled into bits, revealing the Yonko Whitebeard at the other side. He was showing no restraint to his Conqueror's Haki. Most of the people outside appeared to be unconscious now. Shanks was surprised that Ace showed no weakness to the old man's presence.

"How can I help you?" Shanks asked with a sheepish grin, pretending that he was guilty for something.

Before there was any answer, the entire building was engulfed with fiery flames.

Shanks could follow Ace's movements in the flames as he assumed the rookie would try to pick a fight with Whitebeard.

"He's more reckless than Luffy," Shanks commented. Ben nodded, though he did not understand what would motivate the rookie to attack the other Yonko.

Ace was quickly caught and thrown to the ground, courtesy of Whitebeard, but the rookie showed no signs in giving up. He turned into fire and tried to continue his assault.

"Should we leave?" Ben suggested.

"Are you kidding?! We should get popcorn!" Shanks laughed. "This is going to be interesting!"

* * *

A day later, Luffy and Sabo decided to make graves for everyone they knew from Dawn Island. Since they didn't have the space to make a massive graveyard, they settled with making one large gravestone with the names of everyone they could remember. It almost didn't feel right, making graves for people who lived half the world away, but the chances were low for actual graves to be made on such a dead island.

Sabo could tell that Luffy was trying his hardest not to cry, if the constantly twitching rubber face was any indication.

"It's fine to cry," Sabo said.

"No, Ace said it's not manly to cry," Luffy's mouth twitched, even though he had earlier cried a lot. Contrary to his words, his eyes were dangerously filling up with salty tears.

Sabo was silent for a few moments since he realized that Ace must have said that after they believed he was dead. "Ace is an idiot," Sabo finally said as he drew his younger brother into his grasp for a hug. "Even the strongest must cry sometimes."

With the approval of his older brother, Luffy released the waterworks for all his loved ones, but he quickly wiped them away as he made new resolves. Sabo stood by his brother's side as he ventured through the memories he had with the few wonderful people that existed on the island. He placed flowers down on the grave.

"Sorry to interrupt, but..." a revolutionary approached the two, "Dragon wants to see both of you."

"Dragon?" Luffy looked confused, but he immediately grimaced as the name reminded him of his encounter with Akainu.

"Both of us?" Sabo shared Luffy's confusion. He supposed he'd finally learn why Dragon decided to save his brother.

After walking through many complicated hallways, the two brothers finally made it to the most wanted criminal's office.

Once they opened the door, they heard a very familiar voice come from a Den Den Mushi.

" _DRAGON!_ " loud sobs emitted from the Den Den Mushi. " _I guess you turned out alright after all!_ "

"No thanks to you," the man, sitting at his desk in a very composed manner, named Dragon nonchalantly sighed. "How did you even get this number?"

Luffy and Sabo both grew pale as they immediately recognized the voice.

" _Let me hear him! Let me hear him!_ " Garp's voice through the Den Den Mushi exploded with enthusiasm. Dragon pointed the mic towards Luffy.

"GRAMPS?" Luffy couldn't contain his surprise.

" _OH I KNEW YOU WEREN'T DEAD! THAT TRAINING PAID OFF!_ "

"Says the guy who works with the people who are responsible for this," Sabo rolled his eyes as his horrific flashbacks of the man by the name of Monkey D. Garp ended.

" _Hmmm? I know that sassy tongue anywhere!_ " Garp growled. " _That was Sabo, right? You really are alive, and after all my warnings, you still went and joined my criminal son, eh?_ "

"You told us not to become pirates. Nothing about revolutionaries," Sabo stuck his tongue out toward the Den Den Mushi, much to Dragon's amusement.

" _Bah, I made too many mistakes! First Dragon declares war with the Celestial Dragons. Then you join him. Then Ace becomes a pirate. But I will not allow Luffy to follow any of your footsteps!_ "

Sabo and Garp expected an outburst from Luffy, declaring that he'll be Pirate King. But Luffy was uncharacteristically silent as he appeared to be staring into nothingness.

"You can't touch him here!" Sabo pointed out.

" _Gah!_ " came Garp's cry of distress.

"We should get back to talking about the more important matters at hand," Dragon spoke up, so the argument between Garp and Sabo would stop.

"Hmm?" Luffy finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the speaker. He then turned to Sabo and asked, "Who's this old man?"

Sabo sweatdropped. _You really haven't changed, Luffy._ "That's my boss." He didn't know if it was okay to disclose more information.

Dragon waved his hand ar Sabo, signalling that it was fine. "My name is Dragon."

" _He's your dad_ ," Garp added.

"HE'S HUMAN?!" came the voices of many of the revolutionaries that happened to be outside the room, indicating that they were eavesdropping.

"Get back to work!" Dragon yelled at them through the door. A lot of scuffling was heard as they all tried to go back to whatever task they had.

Sabo's eyes widened, but he was able to retain composure. In his mind he realized why Dragon would save Luffy.

"Dragon?" Luffy repeated with confusion. "My dad? I have a dad?"

Sabo chuckled as he ruffled his brother's hair. "Of course you do. Everyone has a dad... whether they like it or not."

Luffy frowned. His face scrunched up as he looked like he was thinking hard. "Does that mean I'm the son of Dragon?"

"Yes," came the gruff reply of his father who seemed confused by the weird question. By logic, you are the son or daughter of your father.

"Yeah? What's with the weird question?" Sabo asked, though he quickly thought that he should have expected these types of questions from Luffy.

"That magma guy kept asking me that question," Luffy grimly answered.

" _You mean Akainu?_ " Garp asked.

"I… think that was his name," Luffy got visibly depressed and angered at the thought of the man. "He… he killed Dadan…"

Silence. A long, deep breath was heard on the other side of the call.

"Hmm, at least he doesn't know that it's you that is my son," Dragon sighed in relief while trying to change the topic.

"Is it bad to be your son?" Luffy innocently asked. He remembered how Ace hated being the son of Roger.

"No, it's good," Sabo smiled as he ruffled his brother's hair again.

" _He's bad, but at least he gave me such a wonderful grandson_ ," Garp's voice muttered. Dragon responded with a deep sigh.

Sabo glared at the Den Den Mushi before turning his kind eyes to Luffy. "Your father saved my life."

"Oh, so he's a good guy then," Luffy concluded. Fake coughing was suddenly heard from the Den Den Mushi.

" _Luffy_ ," Garp's voice said. " _I hate to do this to you, but could you tell us what happened on Dawn Island?_ "

No response.

" _LUFFY!_ " Garp yelled.

Oh!" Luffy was brought back from whatever he was thinking about. "From the very beginning?"

" _No_ ," the Vice-Admiral's voice sounded annoyed as he predicted that his grandson was about the tell his whole life's story. He decided to go with something more simple since he decided he could not rely on Luffy to give an accurate report of what happened. " _Did you shoot the Celestial Dragons?_ "

"No."

"Who shot the Celestial Dragons?" Dragon inquired with interest. Who else could be brazen or foolish enough to attack —kill— the Celestial Dragons?

"Cyril," Luffy growled. It was clear to the others that he held a strong dislike to his mystery man.

Sabo frowned since Luffy had earlier mentioned that he pleaded to die at the hands of this man, and that Makino was killed by this mystery man.

" _Cyril?_ " The revolutionaries heard a tone of recognition from the Den Den Mushi.

"You know him?" Dragon asked.

" _Yeah… someone by the same name joined the Marines shortly after the Dawn Island memorial service…_ "

"Great, tell me where he is so I can bury him six feet under," Sabo growled as he pummeled his fists together.

" _Yeah… about that…_ "

Sabo and Dragon gave a suspecting look at the Den Den Mushi. Garp was acting suspiciously guilty of something.

" _I retired._ "

Sabo gaped as he remembered how proud the old man was of his job. But it seemed sensible since his home island and almost his grandson was obliterated by the people he worked with.

This new information didn't seem to faze Luffy. Mostly because the rubber teen did not understand the consequences of the Marine Hero retiring.

"Where are you going to go? You don't have a home anymore," Sabo questioned.

" _Well, I'm going to join the Revolutionaries so I get to see my adorable son and grandsons again._ "

Sabo did a spit take as his skin quickly turned pale. Even Dragon appeared concerned as beads of sweat started to roll down his skin.

"I refuse," the leader of the Revolutionary army immediately replied, much to Sabo's great relief.

" _BWAHAHAHAHA! I'm just kidding! Like I could join a bunch of evildoers like you!_ " The Den Den Mushi perfectly replicated Garp's voice and tone. " _I'll probably try to start a rice cracker farm somewhere._ "

"You can't grow rice crackers like plants," Dragon sighed.

" _You never know! Bwahahaha!_ "

Sabo sweatdropped as he let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. It was… really taxing, trying to hold a conversation with Garp. He then turned to look at his younger brother. He noticed how Luffy was blankly staring off into the distance. This behavior had been normal ever since Luffy's awakening.

"Luffy?" Sabo interrupted said boy's thoughts. He had been concerned for how Luffy was going to deal with all the losses, and it seemed Luffy's method to cope was to isolate himself in his thoughts. It was very… un-Luffy-like, Sabo noted.

Luffy looked at Sabo with tired eyes. After a long pause, he rubbed his eyes and finally said, "I'm tired…"

"Ah," Sabo understood. He quickly turned to look at Dragon as he announced, "I'll take him to my room."

Dragon nodded before continuing his conversation with Garp over the Den Den Mushi.

Sabo held Luffy's arm while traversing through the Revolutionary base again. Sabo felt like Luffy was currently a lost child, both literally and figuratively. It was no surprise, considering everything that had happened, but Sabo was worried how Luffy would change, personality-wise.

Worst case scenario… the shining goof-ball that Sabo remembered might never come back.

The thought was frightening.

Once they arrived at his room, Sabo led Luffy to his bed. The latter immediately flopped down on the bed.

Thinking that Luffy was quickly asleep, Sabo started to clean up his room. It had been untouched for more than a week since he had spent all his time in the infirmary looking after Luffy. Faint gatherings of dust could be seen… Sabo wanted to vanquish it all.

While the revolutionary was dusting his room, he heard Luffy mutter, "Hat…"

A frown quickly tugged at Sabo's lips. He realized that not only did Luffy lose his home and friends, but he also lost his promise. _What happens to a man who loses almost everything?_ Sabo, surprisingly, did not have an answer even though he was that man seven years ago. _At least_ , Sabo smiled gently, _he still has his sworn brothers… and a blood family (even that bloody Garp) that cares about him_.

"...Sabo…"

Said man quickly turned his attention to Luffy. "Yes..?"

Luffy's exhausted eyes grew fierce and determined as he stared directly at his brother. "That day… why did you go with them?"

Sabo looked confusedly at Luffy. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you go with that noble? I know you really weren't happy by doing that."

Sabo's mind clicked back to the day Bluejam's group ambushed the trio of brothers and how he agreed to go with his father as long as the former pirates didn't kill Ace and Luffy. "Are you asking why I gave away my freedom that day?"

Luffy nodded solemnly.

"It was so you guys could stay alive," Sabo answered as he reflected back on his actions on that fateful day.

"We didn't want you to give away your freedom for us," Luffy pouted.

"Luffy," Sabo stared into Luffy's eyes as he was going to give his sincerest answer. "Freedom is something you can get back. With life, you can never get that back. Plus, you're my brothers, I'd do anything for you guys."

"Oh..." Luffy looked down to his hands as a conflict of morals flashed in his eyes. He then turned his back toward Sabo as he curled up into a ball. "I think I've made up my mind."

"Eh? What did I do? What did you make up your mind on?" Sabo could never cease to be confused by his little brother. "Were you trying to make your mind about something the whole day?" _and was that why you were so lost in your thoughts the whole time?_ Sabo decided not to ask too many questions at once.

"Shishishi… It's a secret..."

Sabo stared at his brother, wide-eyed. He was slightly happy that he could finally hear that precious laugh, but he hoped he didn't give him any wrong ideas.

Sabo wanted to interrogate his brother, but he was immediately greeted by loud snores and a small grin plastered on the rubber-boy's face.

He sighed to himself.

"Luffy… Whatever you're planning… I hope it allows you to keep that smile on your face."

* * *

 **Another Chapter is up. I hope the combination of seriousness and silliness in this story isn't 'off'.  
**

 **Question of the chapter: This is completely unrelated to my story, but... Dogtooth or Katakuri? Why do some people call him Dogtooth, while others call him Katakuri? Or was I just reading some bad translations? Gah!  
**

 **Something to think about: Luffy had a dream about Marineford. Is it pure coincidence? :o  
**

 **I also just realized that I have the power to not kill Thatch... though I guess it doesn't matter since I'm not focusing too much on the Whitebeard Pirates... Should I..? (Oh, this is another question... - power to the readers I guess?)**

 **Thank you very much for reading! ~ June 7, 2018**


	5. Becoming Stronger

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **FairyAlchemist400:** Oh dear! I hope I haven't left you flopping around on the floor for too long! And I hope you cleaned the floor before flopping on it! However, I can't help but think that this chapter did not help you to stop flopping.

 **Guest:** Ah! Um? I'll take that as a compliment? Just keep in mind that both addictions and falling off chairs can be bad for your health. I hope you have enough patience, it's going to take a long while before all of them are reunited, but I'm sure they can all manage. Ah, yes, I'll make sure Sabo buys a book on how to be a good brother 101.

* * *

 **Chapter 5 - Becoming Stronger**

The newspaper was packed with 'interesting' headlines. It was odd since newspapers had only one headline, yet this newspaper somehow pulled it off.

" _REVOLUTIONARIES DESTROY EAST BLUE ISLAND"_

" _PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SHICHIBUKAI CROCODILE AND SHICHIBUKAI DOFLAMINGO"_

" _FIRE FIST CREATES MORE HAVOC ACROSS THE GRAND LINE"_

" _RISE IN THE NUMBER OF PIRATES"_

" _CLASH BETWEEN YONKO WHITEBEARD AND YONKO SHANKS"_

" _MARINE HERO GARP OFFICIALLY RETIRES_ "

Sengoku massaged his temples to relieve him from the aching headache caused from all the sudden events. It seemed that ever since the Dawn Island incident, the whole world started down a dangerous and dark path.

The collaboration between the two Shichibukai was concerning, especially since it was between two powerful masterminds. Even though they were pirates backed by the government, they were still pirates. They couldn't be planning anything good. But thanks to this system, he could do nothing about it.

Then the part about Fire Fist… Surprisingly, the demon rookie was the least of his worries, so he pushed the pirate to the back of his mind.

Since the Marines had been scrambling around to the numerous other troubles, they barely had the time to realize that Newgate and Red Hair were coming into contact. It was so sudden… and so unstoppable. Fortunately, according to the newspaper, there was only a minor fight and both Yonko dispersed quickly after.

The worst part: Sengoku didn't have his rice cracker eating companion to complain to. Despite how much he tried, he was unable to convince Garp to not quit. Garp at least gave him permission to visit his rice cracker farm —whatever that was— and call him via Den Den Mushi. Unfortunately, Sengoku didn't think he had enough time to do either, what with all the escalating disasters happening in the world.

He sighed as he unconsciously grabbed a rice cracker from its open bag on his desk. He looked back at the newspaper.

"It must be nice… retirement."

* * *

Of all of the events described in the Newspaper, Robin was most interested in the one about Crocodile and Doflamingo. Though that wasn't saying much since she was very interested in all these _new_ developments.

She wondered what her current partner was planning. If there was anything about Crocodile that left a lasting impression on her, it's that he trusted no one. Oh, and that Crocodile hated flamingos. So this partnership with Doflamingo greatly befuddled the archeologist.

She decided to confront her current boss about it when she arrived at his base. She dropped the newspaper on the Shichibukai's desk and asked, "Care to explain?"

The Shichibukai lazily turned his head to face the woman's fierce eyes.

"That flamingo wants to sell things. And I don't mind buying those things. That's all," came his deep and hoarse voice.

"What does that have to do with the East Blue?" Robin inquired.

"Just a diversion. It was the Flamingo's idea," Crocodile said before grabbing the newspaper as one of the headlines caught his interest.

 _Diversion for who? The Marines?_ Robin narrowed her eyes at Crocodile. If he was telling the truth, then she would see some big changes within the organization soon. And in two years… Big changes in the Straw Hat's journey.

She knew, that despite coming from the future, this adventure was not going to be any easier than the last.

She was intrigued with the idea of what this new adventure world bring them.

* * *

Chopper spilled all the beans.

At first, he tried to act like everything was normal. But Dr. Kureha could easily see through his farce, mostly because Chopper was really bad at acting 'normal'.

So, after the first hour, he told her the whole truth of the future he came from.

The retelling of the whole adventure was a ride of emotions. Chopper had exhibited a variety of emotions —many Kureha hadn't seen before— to display his feelings at each and every situation.

It took more than a week to finish his stories. But, at the end of it all, Dr. Kureha believed most of it all. She was rather doubtful of Chopper's retelling of stories he heard from a guy named Usopp, but the rest —no matter how ridiculous— she believed. And she was truly happy that the reindeer found a place he truly belonged to while being able follow his dream.

Although, if there was anything she was annoyed about, it was that Chopper had a little more medical knowledge than her.

Everytime he pointed out that there was a better method of treatment, she would strangle the daylights out of the reindeer. She lived a good 136 years, there was no need for a baby reindeer to tell her what to do.

On this particular night, Chopper resolved to increase his physical strength as much as possible. One: to be more of a help to the crew. Two: to drive out Wapol. Three: Er… He didn't yet know what to do about the future Blackbeard situation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kureha wandered through her own thoughts. Most of them being about what kind of crew Chopper followed. She practically knew all about this crew. When they bound to meet for the first time —or again in the crew's case— Dr. Kureha would plan to give them a living hell before she would allow them to take her assistant.

She laughed at the thought.

"Huh? What's funny, Doctorine? I want to laugh too!" Chopper smiled as he looked curiously at the 'old' woman.

"You'll see later. But I don't think you'll laugh," Kureha smirked.

Chopper suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

* * *

It took a while for Franky to adjust to his old body. But when he finally did adjust, he went on full Pervert mode in Water 7. Ah, he missed terrorizing the city with his pervertedness.

As for his business of ship demolishers, he kept it. Only to benefit his little brothers who could no get rid of the habit of destroying things.

He (not so) secretly began working on the blueprints for the Thousand Sunny. He already had the whole thing memorized, but he promised to make the ship 500 times more better… if that was even possible.

Such a task proved to be difficult since the original ship already had everything the crew wanted. He tried to think back on their adventure.

He remembered the ordeal with Caesar Clown… Maybe he should add some kind of cell on the ship, though that could ruin the happy and colorful atmosphere of the ship.

He then remembered how the Sunny regretted not being able to stay stable during the storm, which unfortunately caused Luffy to go overboard… That was just nature, was there really a way to avoid that?

Perhaps he could install some sort of system that could prevent the Devil Fruit Users from going overboard. Or something that could help them stay afloat in the water?

As Franky pondered about the new additions, he wrote at the top of the blueprint in large font size: "500x More Super Coup de Burst." He really had no ideas… the Sunny Go was already the most perfect ship in the world. How would there be a way to make it even more super?

He also had other problems, like how to raise money to get the materials to even buy this ship. On the low or high chance that the Straw Hats aren't able to procure the money needed to buy the materials, Franky would have to take it upon himself to get the money. This way, that super navigator would be happy with having to spend less money, and Franky himself would be able to build his beloved ship earlier. Oh he couldn't wait.

So his choices were: swindling off of pirates or annoying Bakaberg for some (opportunities for) money. Or both. Both seemed like a fun option.

He just hoped that those CP9 bastards wouldn't get suspicious.

* * *

Brook was back on the lonely ghost ship of his.

Throughout the past week, he came across three pirate ships. Every time he saw one, he started to sing a slower version of Bink's sake. Every time the pirate crew of the ship noticed him, they would immediately sail away in terror. Truly, he had a lonely life.

But he didn't let that fact depress him. He knew that in three years, he could be as happy as he could ever be.

For now, he planned to just strengthen his sword, his song, and his soul.

So he wouldn't have to say goodbye to another good friend so soon again.

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Captain?" Piiman asked.

"I am absolutely sure!" Usopp stood firmly with a blindfold covering his eyes. "Hit me with all you have!"

The Usopp Pirates, consisting of Piiman, Ninjin, and Tamanegi, looked at each other doubtfully before raising their wooden swords toward their Captain.

They then started to beat up Usopp with those wooden swords. The victim was unable to dodge a single blow, contrary to what he believed he could do.

"AH! STOP IT! WHO HIT THE NOSE?" Usopp screamed as he collapsed to the floor in agony. All three boys held guilty smiles at his question.

Usopp groaned as he laid his head against the grassy floor.

"Is this the Haki thing you were talking about?" Ninjin asked. "It didn't look as cool as you said it would be."

"Ah! Well, that's because I haven't used it yet!"

"Then when are you going to use it?"

"Erm… Hopefully by the next three years... " Usopp whispered to himself so the boys couldn't hear him. "Oh! Would you look at the time. I have to hang out with Kaya (and keep her away from that cat butler)! You guys should focus on your sword skills, it didn't hurt a bit!"

The boys skeptically eyed him. "Okay…"

Usopp dusted himself and started walking in the direction of Kaya's mansion.

"Now, I wonder what _lie_ I should talk about next."

* * *

It was another hectic day at Baratie as another group of pirates attempted to dine and dash— but failed, thanks to Sanji.

"Is it just me, or are there more outlaws and pirates coming to this restaurant?" Carne asked the rest of the chefs as Sanji finished kicking the pirates out, surprisingly without breaking a table.

"It's fine, as long as we get more customers," Patty whistled happily.

"All the outlaws and pirates that have come here have not paid a single berri," Carne pointed out. "But at least we'll have no shortage of waiters if we keep forcing all of them to work here to pay off for the food."

"Oh. Nevermind then. I hope those bastards all go to hell," Patty deadpanned.

"A lot of them came from the Grand Line," Sanji announced as he walked into the kitchen. He casually resumed his cooking duties.

"Heh, Grand Line Pirates are pretty weak if they can all be beaten by you," Patty snorted as he started washing the dishes.

"Still, I wonder why more and more people are coming here from the other seas…" Carne muttered to himself. "Ah, but what's more strange is that Sanji is paying more attention to beating up non-paying customers than to women! What's up with that!?"

Said man glared at the chef. "It's none of you dipshits' business."

Patty and Carne responded to his rude response by throwing insults at the blonde cook's face. It got out of control and soon all the chefs were involved with the fight. The fight only ended when Zeff entered the kitchen and kicked all their butts before telling them to get back to work.

Sanji was the first chef to recover and continue his cooking.

It wasn't like he was ignoring women, his gentleman honor could not allow that.

But right now, getting stronger was his priority.

It was the priority of the entire crew.

* * *

"STOP TAKING OFF YOUR BANDAGES!" Nami roared at the green haired swordsman. "Geez, how does Chopper stop you from removing your bandages?"

Currently, the two were sailing on a small sailboat in the East Blue.

"He doesn't," Zoro smirked, but he was then quickly smacked by the orange haired navigator.

"I know it wasn't a serious injury, but a wound is a wound. If you get an infection, it would get worse!"

"Whatever," Zoro yawned as he closed his eyes. He silently reflected on the fight with Arlong. Overall, the fight was bad. He had to team up with the cook to fight most of the battle with the Fishman. Granted, they were already tired from beating up the rest of the fishmen beforehand, and they were not used to fighting in their weak bodies, but it was no excuse for how poor two of the strongest Straw Hat members fared against the Fishman.

The greatest mistake they made, Zoro knew, was that they were getting too cocky.

The cook had gotten away with a little more than a few bruises. Zoro, however, fell victim to one of Arlong's bites to the arm. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Neither of them even gave the finishing blow to Arlong. It was Nami who did, when she summoned an average lightning bolt at the Fishman.

The whole battle made Zoro feel stupid. He had once thought that he could beat Mihawk with this strength. He realized how naive he was and immediately resolved to get ten times stronger than he used to be.

Meanwhile, Nami thought about her home while observing the quiet winds. With Arlong gone, the villagers could enjoy freedom much earlier than in the previous timeline. She also had Sanji promise to check up on the island occasionally, to kick out any unwanted pirates who dared to step on the island again. Everything was going fine for Nami, at least, hometown-wise.

Crew-wise, their future was a mess. They had no clue as to where their captain was or where he would be three years from now. They had no idea how to convince their captain to go to certain islands to (re)recruit the other members. They had no idea how they themselves were currently going to meet up with the others without getting killed, since they were now significantly weaker than they ever had been before. Oh, and last of all, they were actually planning to cross the Red Line with a small sailboat. They were so going to die.

"I see Loguetown," Nami muttered absentmindedly as she focused more of her thoughts to the crew's bleak future. "... and a large storm coming…"

Zoro's head shot up. He couldn't wait to get back to Loguetown and take back Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri. He smirked. "I happen to like storms."

Nami immediately pounded her fists against his head. "How would you know? You always sleep through them!" she growled.

Zoro shrugged before actually falling asleep.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Nami bellowed at the endless sky.

* * *

"Ta-da!" Koala announced excitedly as she entered Sabo's room.

"What's this…" Sabo's eyebrows knitted in confusion at the gift that Koala brought. "A tree sapling?"

Luffy's head perked up from the lying position he took on the bed. He curiously stared at the small tree sapling sitting in a small pot.

"It was saved it from a forest fire," Koala smirked. "It's a welcoming gift for your brother."

The blonde tilted his head slightly. This was such a random gift to give to someone who regularly punched trees for training. He supposed the tree could make Luffy feel at home to some extent.

Luffy jumped off the bed to make a closer inspection of the tree. It was small and thin, certainly not like most trees he had seen in Dawn Island before, yet it made him feel warm inside. He had isolated himself in Sabo's room for the past few days which was devoid of any plant life. So this tree was… refreshing, and it made him feel… nostalgic— or whatever the word was.

In it he could see Makino's smiling face, Dadan's irritated face, and everyone else's warm expressions.

After a few minutes of silence, he grinned. "I like it!"

Koala smiled while Sabo sighed, unsure if Luffy had the ability to take care of a plant— especially in Baltigo's harsh environment.

Luffy observed the small abandoned bird's nest that settled on the very top of the tree. He reached out his hand to touch it since it reminded him of a certain Straw Hat… and then of a certain red haired man. He paused, then brought his hand back before it could feel any straw-like texture.

Two words echoed loudly in his mind.

" _Pirate King_ "

It was a promise to bring back the straw hat back to Shanks once he had come to the top. But… the straw hat was gone… probably burned in the fire. So the promise was gone. He broke his promise to Shanks…

This was betrayal to Shanks… There was no way he could become Pirate King when the pirate he admires cannot acknowledge him. There was no way he could be the freest man in the world with such a broken promise.

He simply could not be Pirate King anymore. Trying to do so would…

Luffy shook his head. He already came to this decision when Sabo told him he gave up his freedom for their lives. If he couldn't allow himself to dream to be the freest then he could dream about something else. Something about not losing anyone precious to him again. _No more being sad!_ He thought as slapped his face with both hands.

"Luffy?" Sabo asked, snapping the younger brother out of his thoughts. The older brother had just witnessed something concerning —or normal— on Luffy's face. A lone tear had trekked down they rubbery face of his little brother.

"Sabo..." Luffy said, absentmindedly. Then suddenly the boy turned his head toward his older brother with determined eyes. "Sabo."

"Yes?"

"I want to become stronger!" Luffy declared as he patted his chest. "Help me become strong enough to protect everyone I like!"

"Of course!" Sabo nodded proudly at Luffy's determination. For the past few days Luffy had been lethargic and seemingly locked in his own thoughts. It was great to finally see Luffy's mood brighten.

"YOSH! I'm going to be—!" Luffy stopped mid sentence, appearing to be missing some sort of information. "Hey Sabo, what do you call the guy who wants to protect his nakama?"

"A hero?" Koala suggested. Luffy's response was a disgusted scrunched up face. "I don't want to share my meat!"

"Hmm…" Sabo rubbed his chin in concentration. "A protective person?"

"Doesn't quite roll of the tongue," Koala chuckled at Sabo's simplicity. He was usually a man of quite complex and gentleman words.

"Yeah! It has to sound something like Pirate King!" Luffy said. "Like Meat King!"

Watching his younger brother drool at the thought of becoming Meat King, Sabo sweat-dropped. "What does Meat have to do with what you want to be?"

Luffy's stomach responded with an angry growl.

"How about a knight?" Koala proposed thoughtfully.

"A knight?" Sabo could only imagine Luffy looking ridiculous in a suit of armor.

"So like a Pirate Knight? A pirate of knights or a knight of pirates? Oh! How about a Ghost-Pirate-Ninja-Samurai-Robot-Knight?," Luffy blurted out, his face not betraying how cool he thought the ideas were.

"We can worry about those details later," Sabo said as he adjusted his hat and grabbed an iron pipe that was leaning on the wall. "You said you wanted to become stronger, right? Then there's no time to waste!"

"Right!" Luffy punched his fists together in excitement. He couldn't wait to get stronger… to not lose anyone the same way again!

"Wait just a moment!" Koala blocked the door with her body to prevent the boys from leaving. "I need to take a picture of you with the tree first!"

The brothers looked at her confusedly before slowly moving to pose with the tree.

 _Click_

Koala chuckled as she looked at the picture come out of the camera. It was an image unimaginable, only unless a man named Monkey D. Luffy was in the center of it all. _Was this really Dragon's son? Does Dragon have a side like this?_ Koala smiled.

"Come on, Sabo!"

"Hey! Do you even know where you're going?! Luffy!"

As the boys hurriedly left the room to train, Koala took out an envelope from her bag.

"I wonder how happy Robin-ne will be once she sees this."

* * *

 **Guys, you need to stop falling off chairs and flopping around on the floor. Who else is going to read this if you're injured? All jokes aside, I'm grateful for all the support and interest you are taking in this story :P  
**

 **Warning if you haven't figured it out yet: This isn't a Dark!Luffy fic. The concept is interesting- with how the crew could deal with a Luffy with a dark personality, but I just hadn't planned it so.**

 **Nothing much happened this chapter, since it focused more on foreshadowing and what you can expect in the future. Next chapter though... expect a New Romance Dawn or something like that since I supposed it can't be called Romance Dawn if Luffy doesn't want to be Pirate King...  
**

 **Question of the day: Is it canon that Ace and Sabo say Lu when addressing Luffy? (Cause I read so much fanfiction that I can't distinguish between what's canon and what's... fanfiction) XD  
**

 **Thanks for reading! ~ June 6, 2018**


	6. Shadows of the Known and Unknown

**Chapter 6 - Shadows of the Known and Unknown**

His captain didn't drown.

He didn't. No, this time he was hanging lifelessly, suspended in the air by a hand of molten rock that impaled his chest. Similar to what happened to the brother years back at an unspeakable war.

Nearby was the swordsman, Standing, but unmoving, the swordsman had lost a battle against the pillars of justice to save his captain. Even having succumbed to death's grip, the swordsman still stood, last thoughts must have knowing there was still a way to crawl out of this hellhole.

These thoughts were once shared with the navigator who had commanded her comrades in arms to follow a desperate strategy to get themselves out of this mess. Her plans had failed as the cook had sacrificed his life for her to live. And live she did, if only for a few more minutes before death had caught up to her once more.

Unable to accept the deaths of his friends before him, the sniper had fallen into a tearful rampage. His cowardice was left behind as he had resolved to take down as much 'justice' as he could before taking his last breath. A breath he did take as he lay in the rubble in a pool of his own blood.

The cyborg had followed suit as he tried to take as many lives as he could, to avenge his friends and his falling ship. Now he was all but a mess of metal and flesh that had no hope of repair. No desire of repair as he had previously appeared to not mind following his friends to the afterlife.

Hope had been lost at the deaths of her friends. At the friends who had accepted her. Instead of shedding tears, the archeologist had desired to show her enemies just how much of a terrifying demon she could be. Next to her had stood the skeleton who was no stranger to death. Together, their enemies' worst nightmares were made true until they said their farewells to this unjust world.

The reindeer stared at himself- or rather his body that had perished somewhere along the mix. Though he died with his friends, he was now just a ghost. Alone.

He curled up into his intangible self as the workers of justice started cheering at he and his friends' demise.

For him, that sound of victory was the sound of failure. It haunted him… followed him as the darkness engulfed his vision.

 _Chopper…_

The reindeer woke up with a start, his eyes still knowing the darkness. He finally noticed that he was in the embrace of Doctorine. The concern for him was obviously plastered all over her face. Judging by the dryness and soreness of his throat, he deduced that he had been screaming in his sleep for a while now.

"That dream again?"

Chopper slowly nodded as he tried to dry his tears with his fur. Nightmares of the Straw Hat crew dying at the hands of Akainu or Blackbeard or whatever had been recurring. Chopper was left shaken and lifeless by the intense and heartbreaking visions.

Doctorine had no cure for the emotional trauma that her reindeer was experiencing. She only had treatment. Treatment that was often ineffective, but Chopper always appreciated her attempts.

What would usually make him feel better was the weekly letter Robin would always send, or the rarel visit from Nami and Zoro.

"Need to sleep in my bed?" He knew that she rarely showed her gentleness and care, even around her patients, but Doctorine knew it would do no good to either of them if she acted like her harsh self during times like these.

Chopper shook his head. A refusal for the first time.

"It's al- almost been three years… I can't (hic) be a- a crybaby when I see them again…" the reindeer whispered through his sobs.

Doctorine placed her hand on top of his head and ruffled his fur as she was sporting a subtle smile on her face. "You've grown so strong, Chopper. But that doesn't mean you should shy away from the support already here."

"I- I know… It's just that I think I shouldn't be crying about things that haven't even happened," Chopper mumbled as he buried his face in his blanket.

"I'm keeping an eye on you, you know," Doctorine sighed as she patted his head, before standing up to leave the room. "Have a good night."

Once his mentor left his room, Chopper clenched his hoof and shut his eyes, tears streaming down.

"I'm waiting for you. And this time, I'll make sure you live until you reach your dream. I'll be the doctor you need."

* * *

It was a peaceful night at Waters 7. Albeit too peaceful...

"Oh, Bro, you going to sleep?"

Franky spun around to greet one of his brothers. He cracked a grin and performed one of his usual poses, "Nope, I'm going to go refuel my cola!"

Zambai silently stared at Franky for a moment. As he leaned forward to get a better look of his cyborg brother, he said, "Hey, you okay? You don't seem like yourself…"

Franky's eyebrow rose in surprise. "I'm feeling as _super_ as always!"

It was a lie.

"'Kay then…" Zambai didn't seem convinced. Despite how dense his family could sometimes be, Franky was surprised that they could be strangely observant.

After they parted ways, Franky continued his walk through the city. He felt a little displeased about the lack of sound, since he was so used to the sounds of hammers clanging from Idiot-Burg's company and screams from random people about his pervertedness. As someone so used to noise, by extension something happening, Franky felt a little disturbed.

Yet somehow he felt a little at peace. The rare silence consoled him and eased his thoughts. Now that three years have passed since this whole time travel event, today was supposed to be a super day according to their previous timeline since today, Luffy met Zoro and the Straw Hat Crew began. When Nami and Zoro visited, the super navigator had a theory that they would meet Luffy on this day too. She had nothing to base it off of, but it was nice, wishful thinking. After all, no one knew exactly where the Captain was or what his condition was. Unless, no one ever told him. Well, if she was right, Franky would only have to wait a few more months until the crew would get to this island and kick the asses of those CP9 bastards. Today would have been great.

If it didn't start off with him waking up from a dream where the whole crew died. He knew it was just a dream and that Robin could somehow come up with even more frightening stories, but he couldn't quite fully calm himself down. Once the shade of night fully covered the sky, he felt the need to drown himself in some cola. That would feel really refreshing.

"Ugh," Franky groaned as he massaged his temples. What a rough day. What a quiet day.

Too quiet.

A few seconds later, a loud scream piercing the sky reached his ears. Immediately, Franky analyzed the sky to find that there was a person falling from the sky. The cyborg, of course, was used to sights like these, as his mischievous brothers always made things explode that made people fly.

He sighed in amusement as he positioned himself to catch the fool.

*CRASH*

Holy- The impact actually made a dent in his metallic chest and drove him into the wall of a building. A cloud of dust rose from the impact, blinding his vision

"Ah sorr… ….makes jumping on roof… ...ot easier than it is!" The stranger seemed to be apologizing. That wasn't something his brothers would often do when they got sent flying.

Also, the voice was disturbingly familiar. A voice he could never forget.

Once dust cloud cleared, Franky gaped.

A familiar _grin_.

"Shishishishi… Are you okay mister? You're making a funny face!"

A familiar _laugh_.

"Captai— " he sputtered in shock. This was a dream. It had to be a dream. Right.

He didn't question why he would be here. Franky just knew that right now, it was manly to cry.

So he did.

If he wasn't blinded by tears, he could've sworn that he saw a tear roll down the stranger's face.

After fifteen seconds of crying to himself and showing no signs of stopping, Franky felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Then he was suddenly punched in the face and was sent flying to another wall.

"The hell?!" He was having a damn one-sided touching reunion here.

"Sorry sorry! But I thought punching people when they're crying makes them feel better! At least that's what my brother did!"

 _How- Nevermind_. He had learned long ago not to question this person's logic. At least he knew that he wasn't in a dream right now. "I wasn't crying!" Franky sobbed.

"See, you're smiling! It worked!"

Franky wiped off his tears. He had no idea what this boy was doing here. This definitely didn't happen in the previous timeline, though the current timeline was already messed up so he should have expected the unexpected.

He saw nothing in the newspapers about a Straw Hat Crew, so this man being here could not currently be a pirate. Why was he here then? At least he turned out all fine from the incident three years ago if he's still capable of falling from the sky. Wait, where did his hat go? Oh well, Franky wouldn't sweat the details, he would leave that to the _super_ navigator and _super_ archeologist.

"Bastard. Don't think you're off the hook for "cheering" me up. You still have to pay for the damages!" Franky grinned as he pointed as his now dented chest, which resulted in a very stunned, amazed, and apologetic former/future captain.

"YOUR CHEST IS DENTED?! YOU'RE A ROBOT?!"

Maybe in the future. Franky sill had a body that was not destroyed by a massive explosion. His family had begged him to not explode himself, so he complied with their whines… for now.

"Franky's my name! What's yours?"

"Luffy! Monkey D. Luffy."

* * *

He felt a little uncomfortable, looking into the blank eyes that stared back at him. Those eyes shouldn't be so… blank… especially when staring at him. They should be filled with curiosity and enthusiasm. Was this how he always looked at strangers?

It didn't help that he had to _act_ like a stranger around this boy though. They weren't strangers. But they were strangers. It was extremely confusing, but what else could he expect from time travel.

"So what's a kid like you doing here in the dead of night?" Franky prompted, hoping for some explanation. But, knowing Luffy, he'd just get some very vague answers that seem obvious to him but really isn't.

Luffy suddenly shifted as he clamped his mouth into an awkward smile and turned his eyes to the left. Sweat seemed appear on his skin. "It's a secret…"

Glad to know this guy still had trouble lying and keeping secrets.

"So what do I have to do? Don't tell me I have to work for you for two years or something like that," Luffy pouted, oblivious at how he cited such a random, specific idea.

To Franky, the whole pay him back thing was just an excuse to talk to the boy more. He was surprised that Luffy was actually taking this thing seriously.

"That's ridiculous. First, we'll go to a bar and drink," Franky said as he stared back at the boy, only just realizing that Luffy's clothes were identical to the ones he wore when they had first met.

"I don't want to drink. I want meat!"

"Oi, you can't decide how you're going to repay me. Luckily for you, there is meat there so…"

"MEATTTTTTTTT!"

The rubber boy cheered and ran onwards to wherever he thought the bar was.

Franky sighed at his antics. There were things that never changed. Although, this meeting was a complete difference from how they first met: a deadly battle to avenge each one's family.

Surprisingly enough, Luffy entered the bar Franky was thinking about: Blueno's Bar. Franky would be damned if he didn't cause at least one mess for those CP9 bastards. Well, Luffy was notorious for wrecking innocent havoc, so let them have it.

 ***CRASH***

Wait, maybe it wasn't a good idea to give CP9 a reason to murder Luffy now.

 _Not super._

Franky ran into the bar to find a couple destroyed wooden furniture, in the middle of it was a standoff between two men. More specifically, Luffy was glowering at a large man, Blueno, who held an impassive look on his face.

"Oi!" Franky quickly broke the fight as he grabbed Luffy by the scruff of his neck. "What are you doing?!"

"His face annoys me!" Luffy growled as he glared daggers at the owner of the bar.

"Calm down! You can't just fight people because they look weird!" Franky berated his former/future captain, whilst taking note that this Luffy seemed to be more aggressive than what he remembered. From his observation, Luffy only attacked people if they hurt people he liked, for fun, for defense, or for something food related. So why would he just attack when he has yet to be provoked?

Well, there were bound to be changes in Luffy's behavior considering what happened three years ago. Maybe this Luffy just got more hostile. Franky could live with it.

"I should've known he was affiliated with you and your rambunctious group," Blueno spoke indifferently with only a hint of irritation. "I need to clean this place up."

Franky dragged the scowling rubber boy away from the place. After a few minutes of continuing this action, Franky broke the silence. "You okay?"

The boy seemed to perk up as smile immediately replaced his frown. "Yup!" Though his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.

"..." Franky stared at the starry sky as they wandered around the city. Then he looked back at the boy who appeared to be wearing a frown again.

Franky sighed as he patted the boy's back. "I have something I want to show you."

Immediately Luffy's eyes lit up, and drool tricked down from his mouth. "Is it meat?!"

"You'll see," Franky chuckled as he adjusted his sunglasses. "Follow me."

They walked down the streets and turned corners until they finally found the Franky Family House. He led the rubber man to the shore where there was a massive piece of cloth covered an equally massive object sitting on the water.

"Woah…" Luffy gasped in awe. "That's a really big ghost."

 _Still an idiot_. Franky smirked as he grabbed a piece of the cloth. With one strong tug, he somehow unveiled the whole thing as the cloth fell onto the water. He kept his eyes steady on his former/future captain's face, anticipating an awestruck reaction.

Of course, what he just unveiled was the Sunny Go. It was still in the process of getting built since the flow of money to get the Adam Wood and other materials was really slow.

First, Luffy just stared at it nonchalantly. This image was probably registering in his brain slowly. Then, suddenly his eyes bulged out of his head and he screamed a scream that could probably wake the whole city.

"THAT'S AMAZING!"

"Care to explore?" as the words left his mouth, Franky watched Luffy rocket onto the ship. Franky stood where he was, grinning to himself while not thinking that leaving Luffy alone on an amazing ship was disastrous.

Surprisingly enough, no audible destruction resulted from the unsupervised, excited rubber boy exploring the ship. That was new. After a few minutes, Luffy finally settled down and he decided to rest on the figure head. Franky got flashbacks from all the times his captain would sit on his favorite seat.

Franky wasn't crying now, dammit.

He saw Luffy suddenly perk up at the sight of something that was behind him. Franky turned around to be greeted by another super surprise.

"OIIII!" Luffy screamed in joy. "SABOOOO!"

"LUFFY!" Sabo yelled back in relief. "You okay? I heard you scream!"

"My bad. I was so excited I couldn't not scream," Luffy grinned as he jumped off his ship to hug his brother.

Meanwhile, Franky watched their interaction with interest. _Luffy and Sabo were here together_. That meant that Sabo regained his memory - to some extent, and that Luffy was mostly likely with the Revolutionaries. That also meant that Luffy wasn't a pirate yet, else Sabo wouldn't be with him. Or something like that.

The cyborg breathed out a sigh of relief. At least Luffy wasn't alone during these past three years.

"Sabo, this is Franky. Franky, this is my big brother Sabo," Luffy grinned as he introduced the two.

Franky awkwardly shook the hand of Sabo, who was glaring at him with a suspicious look. Franky wondered what would cause such a reaction since he himself did not look like a suspicious person. He just looked like a pervert.

"Luffy's new friend, huh?" Sabo said as he took a quick glance, not unnoticed by Franky, to the ship and then back to the cyborg. "That your ship?"

"Yep, it was built by this super guy right here," Franky raised his head with pride as he pointed to himself.

Stars sparkled brilliantly in Luffy's eyes. "OH! You're a ship writer?"

"Shipwright," Franky coughed into his hand. "Yeah, I am."

"What's the name of the ship?" Sabo carefully prodded for a reason Franky could not yet find.

"The Thousand Sunny," Franky announced proudly while the stars in Luffy's eyes intensified. Franky did think about the oddity of the question. He didn't think Sabo would be interested in this ship since it was built by a "stranger" that happened to meet his little brother. It was not like the ship was Pluton or anything. Franky laughed at his own thought. What a ridiculous idea.

"Excuse me for being rude, but are you a pervert?" Sabo warily gazed at the Cyborg as he asked his last question.

"Indeed I am!" Frankly answered brilliantly.

He didn't notice how Sabo protectively stepped closer to his brother. "How very eccentric."

"He's a funny guy," Luffy laughed, also oblivious to his brother's movements.

"Why thank you," Franky blushed at the compliment, while noticing how cautious Sabo now appeared.

"Are you selling it?" Luffy suddenly asked, moving on from the previous topic.

"No. This is a special ship," Franky looked down at the boy, with a slight smile tugging at his lips. "I'm waiting for a certain man. Only a man who can fulfil my dream of sailing this ship through every nook and cranny of the world.

"That's a nice dream," Luffy smiled back. Franky noticed Sabo's shoulders relax.

"What's your dream?" Franky asked, even though he already knew the answer. At least he thought. He didn't notice how Sabo's mood gloomed.

"My dream?"

"Your dream."

Luffy's smile faltered for a split second, not unnoticed by his brother and Franky's eyes.

 _To be Pirate King, right?_

He was quickly proven wrong.

"Well, I don't have one," Luffy wore an embarrassed smile on his face.

Franky stiffened as he felt that time stopped. If could name one true fact about these strange seas, it was that Luffy was going to be Pirate King. For it to not be true, well Franky would lose all sense of reason.

 _What._

* * *

 _Why is he making that face?_ Luffy thought as he stared at his new cyborg friend who looked very pale… like he just saw a ghost. Was it something he said? Luffy shared a glance with Sabo to realize that his brother was equally confused.

"Franky?" Luffy spoke as he waved his hand in front of the cyborg. "You okay?"

"Yeah." It was a short answer. Luffy couldn't normally tell when someone was lying, but he had a feeling that the cyborg just lied to him. Luffy felt compelled to do _something_. What or why, he didn't know.

"It was nice meeting you," Sabo said as he politely bowed down and tipped his hat. "But I'm afraid that it's about time we leave."

Seeing the sun peak out from the horizon, Luffy realized that Sabo was right. They did agree to leave this island by morning since Sabo said that he should be able to finish business by then. Luffy didn't know anything Sabo's business here other than that it had to so with CP-Something.

"Hmm? You guys planning on going somewhere super interesting?" Luffy saw that the cyborg's face was a mix of emotions. Concern and… Nostalgia? What a strange robot.

Closing his eyes peacefully, Luffy chirped out weakly, "Just going back to the beginning."

Right, the beginning. He told Sabo and the other revolutionaries that he still wanted to start his adventure once he set sail from _the_ island. _Dawn Island_. They tried to change his mind since going back there could be bad for his mind, but Luffy set his mind. No matter what he will feel when he would get there, he wanted to come to terms with _something_ , and he also wanted to see the _truth_.

Other than Sabo's revolutionary business, the two brothers were on this island for a rest. They'd need to take a few more rest stops since Sabo said the East Blue was still a long way to go.

Turning around to follow the brother that was going to their boat, Luffy smiled and waved a cheerful goodbye with a weird feeling in his chest. He felt like it was wrong to just leave the Cyborg on this island. He felt like he should bring him along for an adventure.

Making a compromise with his strange feelings, Luffy turned back around, yelling, "When I become a pirate, will you join my crew?!"

Franky seemed, at first, shocked. But then he gave a loud laugh. "You'd have to pull a pretty super stunt to get someone like me to join a pirate crew."

"Super, huh?" Luffy grinned thoughtfully. "I'll see you soon, then!"

* * *

After the brother duo left his sight, Franky climbed aboard the Sunny and leaned against the railing next to the figurehead. "Eh, Sunny, what'd you think about your future captain?"

Franky paused for a moment, actually expecting the ship to reply. When the only sound he heard was the waves rolling against the ship, Franky decided to continue the conversation. "He didn't mess anything up while he was on board, did he?"

Franky slumped against the railing. "He's a bit different from what I remember, but I know you'll love him."

"HEYY!" Franky jumped when he heard a voice since he was just expecting more silence. Realizing that it didn't come from his sentient ship. He looked over the railing to find two familiar faces standing on exact place where he talked to Luffy and Sabo a few hours ago. Franky raised his eyebrow in surprise and confusion.

"Nice ship," the super swordsman, Zoro, smirked as he reminisced about all the times he slept on that ship.

"Brings back memories!" the super navigator, Nami, grinned as she clapped her hands together in amazement.

They both donned similar outfits to what they usually wore in the New World in the previous timeline.

"Hey," Franky leaped off the ship and landed next to them, still confused. "What are you guys doing here?"

"What? I was expecting a more warm welcome," Nami narrowed her eyes at him. Clearly thinking about how ungrateful he was. They did go through all the effort of trying to find this island again, since Nami was too cheap to buy an eternal pose. Great thing she was an excellent navigator.

"Sorry, sorry," Franky apologized, realizing that he might have sounded cold. "But uh… Luffy was just here."

Totally not expecting that answer, the other two completely lost their cool composure.

"What?" Nami gaped, realising that they just missed their captain.

"How was he?" Zoro furrowed his eyebrows, expecting a complicated answer since Luffy did go through a life changing experience three years ago. It couldn't have been much positive development.

Franky rubbed the back of his neck, "He was healthy and happy… He was also with Sabo so I think he's completely fine."

"That's good to hear," Nami sighed in relief. For the whole three years, she thought that Luffy was somewhere alone, trying to deal with what happened all by himself. It hurt thinking that they probably wouldn't be able to help or see him for three years. It felt like what happened with the Paramount War all over again.

"I'm sensing a but…" Zoro's senses weren't wrong.

Franky groaned. "Not sure you'd believe me— I couldn't even believe it myself."

They both looked at him to continue on. Many images crossed their minds as they briefly wondered what changed about Luffy that they could not believe. That he looked buff now? Has a horrible personality? Is actually smart? No— It couldn't be that he gained some sort of allergy to meat, right?

"He doesn't want to be Pirate King."

Oh.

This was much worse than what they could have ever imagined.

* * *

 **So yeah, I skipped the scene where Luffy and Sabo leave the Revolutionary base. I imagined that most of the officers would be doing their duties on some other islands, so there wasn't much to address other than the fact that everyone came to love him. Plus, I wanted to focus on the Straw Hats as soon as possible. I don't know, when I wrote it out, it seemed dull and boring, so I left it out of this chapter. I hope that didn't leave you confused since the reason the brothers were there was vaguely mentioned in this chapter. Well... A lot of things were vaguely mentioned in this chapter, so I hope you weren't too horribly confused! :3**

 **Thanks for reading and possibly enjoying ~ November 2, 2018**


	7. Mystery Feelings

**I'll be honest, writing a fic where Luffy isn't aiming to be Pirate King is hard and definitely OC-ish of Luffy. It also doesn't help that I can't quite grasp the other characters either. But I won't stop this fic. If only to set the record for the worst fanfiction ever created. ;3**

* * *

 **Chapter 7 - Mystery Feelings**

"Zoro."

"Yes?"

"Do you know where we are?"

"In the stomach of a whale."

"Yes, and do you know why we're inside the stomach of a whale?"

"Just our usual luck."

"I'm raising your debt."

" _Shit._ "

* * *

 **Flashback**

 _"You're kidding… right?"_

 _Luffy's dream to become Pirate King was the whole reason the Straw Hat Crew existed. Without it, Luffy probably would have never been able to get anyone to join the crew the way they did._

 _That ridiculously impossible but somehow believable dream of his was the sole reason the crew was able to go so far in achieving their own individual dreams. They'd be nowhere without Luffy and that dream._

 _But now they were in a world where Luffy didn't have that dream. Though, that was better than him dead._

 _"If he doesn't want to be Pirate King, then what is his dream?" Nami asked._

 _"Nothing, sis. He doesn't have a dream," Franky crossed his arms, clearly conflicted._

 _"Better than suddenly wanting to become a Marine Admiral, I suppose," Zoro sighed with a mix of relief and hidden concern._

 _"Is he still a pirate?" Nami hoped that at least that part didn't change about the rubber captain._

 _"Not yet. He said something about going back to the beginning before becoming a pirate."_

 _"Beginning? When was Luffy ever the type of person to give vague answers?" Zoro crossed his arms in concern. "But at least we have a pretty good guess on where this 'beginning' is."_

 _"Dawn Island..." Nami lightly fingered her lips, in deep thought._

 _"That being said, I think you guys should go after them now," Franky knocked the two out of their thoughts. "They left almost half an hour ago. But with your super navigator abilities, you guys should be able to catch up in no time."_

 _"That's only if we choose the same sea route as them," Nami bit her lip, still frustrated that they missed each other by less than an hour. Was this just fate messing with them?_

 _"We'll manage to find him," Zoro said._

 _"Doesn't sound too reassuring when someone as directionally challenged as you says it," Franky chuckled._

 _"What's that supposed to mean?!"_

 _"Nothing. Just get going and find and fix the captain for me, will ya?"_

 _And so they ran off to go back to their sailboat, with Zoro occasionally running to the wrong direction— Something the Nami could never stop getting irritated about despite traveling with this guy for more than three years._

 _Once they set sail, they shouted their brief goodbyes to the Cyborg who watched them leave his home island._

 _They let the wind guide the sails through the sea, Nami only made sure the boat faced the direction where the East Blue was._

 _After two minutes, the swordsman fell asleep, which resulted in him getting heavily beat up. He had to admit, it was hell not getting some damn rest when he wanted to damn sleep._

 _After twenty minutes, a pirate ship started attacking them._

 _One minute later, the pirate ship was sliced into thirds and sank. None of the pirates noticed that no treasure sank with the ship._

 _After a total of sixty minutes of sailing, Nami spotted another ship sailing ahead of them. It was smaller than any other ship that was brave enough to sail through Paradise, excluding their own. Upon closer look, Nami realized that there were only two people visible on that ship._

 _"So how should we introduce ourselves?" Nami suddenly grew anxious at the thought of meeting their captain. A captain that didn't know them and could possibly express disinterest._

 _"Since when did we ever have plans?" Zoro shrugged. "It'll be fine if we be ourselves… I think."_

 _Nami was still very nervous, until she realized that she didn't make the greatest first impression in the previous timeline, so anything she did now should be fine._

 _When their boat was close enough that Sabo and Luffy took notice of their presences, a gigantic shadow appeared from beneath the surface of the water. In an instant, a gigantic whale emerged from the sea._

 _The whale bore gigantic scars on its head, resembling a certain whale that was waiting for a certain skeleton back at the Red Line. The resemblance forced Zoro to restrain himself from slicing the poor whale all apart._

* * *

And that was how Nami and Zoro ended up in the stomach of a whale. They were sitting on their boat that was floating on top of a mix of water and stomach acid. Similar to how they got swallowed by Laboon in the previous timeline. Only difference was that there was no Crocus or a sky painted on the walls of the stomach.

It was rather bland for the inside of a whale's stomach, if Zoro had to be honest.

"The one time in our life you should've sliced something, you don't?"

"It looked like Laboon," Zoro mumbled, grumpily.

"Laboon's all the way at the Red Line! As if he would suddenly pop up an away away from Waters 7!" Nami hissed at the swordsman's idiocy as she stated what she was most frustrated about. "We missed our shot at meeting him!"

"I can cut us out of this whale."

"PUT DOWN THOSE SWORDS! THIS WHALE MIGHT BE UNDERWATER!"

Once Zoro was sporting some new bumps on his head, a loud scream echoed through the chambers of the stomach.

"WOOOOOOOOOAAAAH!"

It was oddly _familiar_.

Quickly, they realized that a boat was entering the stomach. Meaning, the whale just ate another boat. Knowing that there was only one other boat near them when the whale ate them, the two had a good guess who else was just eaten by the whale.

Once the boat that they were previously trying to chase crashed onto the water and possible stomach acid mix, splashing the liquid all over Zoro and Nami.

Shivers crawled up their skin as their eyes widened at the newcomers. In an instant, the three years of the strange _loneliness_ vanished.

They were somehow surprised and not surprised when they heard a childish, enthusiastic laugh.

It was stunning, nonetheless, to see him alive again and to have no care in the world. It was as if a ghost was dancing before their eyes.

"So this is what the inside of a whale looks like!"

"Luffy… I see you haven't left your habit of getting eaten by gigantic creatures..."

While the boy was enjoying the view of a whale stomach, his eyes caught the figure of the other ship occupying this stomach. "Hey!" He grinned and waved at them. "I saw you guys get eaten by this whale!"

It was a surprise that he only now just noticed them. After all, their boats were literally five feet away from each other.

"Uh… Hi," Nami was nearly speechless as she forced herself to awkwardly wave back at the boy.

For a moment, she felt like she had been dreaming for three years. After all, the boy she once called her captain was enthusiastically bouncing around the ship in front of her. He was all animated and _not dead_ at all. For a moment, she felt like nothing happened at all and the Straw Hats were just on another crazy adventure inside another whale's stomach. But her senses snapped her back into reality. They' were all three years younger than they're supposed to be. She is a stranger to this boy. The Straw Hat Crew did not exist. She could feel her eyes water, but she willed herself to not cry.

Meanwhile, Zoro crossed his arms as he analyzed the boy. He did look the same. He did act the same. _But those eyes…_

The boy caught his gaze and held it for long while. He could have been imagining things, especially since he was now covered in the liquid that resided in the whale's stomach, but he thought he saw a hint of recognition in the boy's eyes when they caught each other's eyes. Or maybe it was just his imagination since he was so used to understanding those eyes. Now staring at those eyes, he found nothing but the eyes that were looking at strangers. It was very unsettling to see these eyes from him. This only reminded him of what was lost and what should not be lost again.

But what really set them both off was the lack of a straw hat resting on the boy's head or shoulders.

 _But at least he's alive..._

"Erm… But if you saw us get eaten, why didn't you immediately try to escape?" Nami masked her trembling voice as she wiped her eyes, even though she knew that she would get a simple and dumb answer.

"Cause it looked fun," the boy replied. A noise of a palm smacking a head echoed throughout the whole whale stomach.

"Treasure meeting you here! My name's Monkey D. Luffy, and this is my brother, Sabo."

The blonde shook his head, then sighed in defeat. "How many times have I told you not to reveal your name out so quickly."

"Shishishi… At least I remembered my manners! I said treasure meeting you!"

"It's _pleasure_ meeting you," Sabo softly corrected.

"That's what I said!" Luffy pouted at his brother, not understanding his mistake.

"I suppose that's the most progress you've ever made," his brother responded, while failing to suppress his chuckle.

Zoro smirked. Classic Luffy.

"Anyway…" Sabo turned his attention to Zoro and Nami. His eyes were narrow and full of caution. "What's your business? It looked like you guys were trying to get into contact with us."

"Just a coincidence!" Nami answered before the swordsman could say something stupid. "We're just sailing to a destination and you guys just happened to be in our path."

"May I ask where your destination is?" Sabo's tone was laced with suspicion. Not that he was one to criticize, but sailing the Grand Line on a mere sailboat could only mean one of two things. The passengers were either idiots or extremely skilled and powerful. If the aura and confident appearances were anything to go by, these two seemed like they belonged in the latter.

"East Blue."

Luffy's head perked up due to the revelation of that information. "Hey, that's where we're going too!"

"Yeah, what a coincidence," Nami nervously chuckled. Zoro gave her a disapproving nudge, as if to say that she would sound suspicious to any other person.

If Sabo thought anything of the like, he didn't show it. But internally, he was wondering what business people of this caliber had in the East Blue of all places. "A coincidence indeed."

"Since we're going to the same way…" Luffy spoke, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "How about we sail to the East Blue together!"

"Luffy—" Sabo was about to protest, but he knew that there was no changing his brother's mind now. The most he could do now was keep a close eye on these strange people.

"You'd want two strangers like us to travel with you?" Zoro voiced Sabo's concerns, even though he didn't find Luffy's request all that strange. After all, he immediately wanted Brook to join the crew just cause he was a skeleton.

"Yeah! You guys seem like fun! Look," he pointed to Zoro. "You have green hair."

Zoro felt quite annoyed. The only thing that was interesting about him was his green hair? He suddenly imagined the Luffy of the previous timeline recruiting him solely because of his 'unnatural' hair color.

"And you—" Luffy pointed at Nami. "You have blue wands."

He was clearly referring to Nami's Clima Tact.

"Careful, that just shows that she's a witch," Zoro shrugged.

"Call me that again, and I'll raise your debt."

The swordsman begrudgingly kept his mouth shut.

Luffy had a different reaction. "A witch and a swordsman? So cool~"

Sabo, too, temporarily threw away his suspicion to curiously examine the novelty of the pair.

"We'll take you up on your offer," Zoro finally replied, to Luffy's excitement and Nami's annoyance since he didn't even bother to check with her— even though she had the same answer. "But don't you think we should get out of this whale first?"

Luffy looked at Sabo, who then rubbed the back of his neck. "Good thing I prepared for the extremely rare chance that I allow us to get swallowed up by a giant monster," the gentleman sighed as he took out a small back from his pocket. "This things can only happen with Luffy…"

As he emptied out the content into the liquid of the whale's stomach, Sabo warned, "Better hold on tight."

Moments later, the whole stomach shook and the liquid their boats rested upon started to bubble. Riding the boats that erupted with the liquid, the group escaped the whale through its mouth.

* * *

As the two brothers and the two "pirates" sailed together and day turned into night, faced the full extent of the differences between this Luffy and the Luffy they knew in their previous timeline.

At first, he seemed normal. He was playful and energetic. He still said dumb things and acted like an idiot. He couldn't stop complaining about how bored or hungry he was. He couldn't sit still.

They were also pleasantly surprised that there wasn't much of a gap between theirs' and and his strength. Nami remembered how they crew worried about the big possibility of Luffy being extremely weak compared to the rest of the crew when their journey would eventually start again. This all brought the relief they sorely needed after the Dawn Island incident.

Unfortunately, the Dawn Island incident didn't allow Luffy to keep all his traits.

The first sign of 'there's something wrong with Luffy' became evident when Sabo cooked and prepared food. On instinct, Zoro and Nami grabbed their plates and were ready to guard it from the thieving rubber hand that would usually come their way when they ate with Luffy.

That… didn't happen. Luffy didn't even try. He just grabbed the food that was reserved for him and ate it slowly… well, slower than his usual pace. Nami thought that Sabo finally beat some manners into him, but then she realized that Luffy was still sloppily eating his food… so it couldn't have been a manners thing.

The looks of shock and confusion on their faces— mainly Nami's since Zoro usually masked his emotions well— were unmissed by Sabo, who had been carefully examining them since they left the whale. He noticed how the two wouldn't even bat an eye— mainly Zoro— when some pirates would initiate an attack on their small sailboats or when a Sea Monster would pop out of nowhere and immediately get destroyed by one of the men. They were experienced fighters, Sabo noted the obvious. But what really intrigued him was that their stoic expressions would suddenly come to life when Luffy did something… Or when he _didn't_ do something.

Of course Sabo would recognize that look, because he would always carry that look when Luffy did something _un-Luffy-like_ back when he was residing with the Revolutionaries. It was disturbing, but by now, he got used to it. Nonetheless, it was disturbing to see these people have that look when the should barely know his younger brother. It urged him more to wonder who exactly these people were.

Zoro did notice that Sabo might be onto something, given how closely the protective brother had been keeping an eye on them. But he shrugged it off, knowing there wasn't much he could do about it. Though, he couldn't say that it was not uncomfortable to have the once friendly brother constantly look at him in suspicion.

Nami purposely didn't finish her meal as she pushed her plate closer to Luffy. To test something. "Want the rest?"

Luffy paused and looked at her with curiosity. "You sure?"

Once Nami nodded, Luffy immediately gulped down the rest of the contents on the plate. "Thanks!" he licked his lips and patted his belly, satisfied with what he ate.

Nami stared at him, dumbfounded.

Luffy waited for permission to eat other people's food.

She had mixed feelings about this issue, and she knew that Zoro did too. In fact, if the whole crew learned about this, they'll be surprised and bothered by a myriad of not so colorful thoughts.

If this was just a Luffy that learned some manners, Nami wouldn't worry so much. However, she feared that the boy's actions were not because he learned some manners. This had to be something deeper. And anything like this had to relate to the only thing that drastically changed their timeline.

The second sign, though a bit debatable as of now, was that Luffy had yet to get himself in trouble. Zoro expected him to somehow get caught in the mouth of a bird's mouth like before while Nami predicted that he'd slip and fall into the ocean— of which in the event that it occurred, the two would be well prepared to save him in order to avoid what happened in the last timeline from happening again. He did none of that, and they didn't know whether to be proud or concerned. Zoro theorized that because they weren't a crew and therefore Luffy had little reason to trust them with his life, that Luffy was more careful with his life. They both shut down the idea for the fact that Sabo was present and that Luffy couldn't be careful to save his life.

The third and most obvious sign was the missing straw hat. They checked the ship, and indeed, a straw hat did not exist anywhere on the brothers' sailboat. This led to the final difference they found in their captain (that had been brought up by Franky and the mere thought of it was nagging them ever since).

While Nami was chatting to Sabo about how she could tell the subtle difference in direction, atmosphere and other stuff Zoro didn't care to understand, Zoro decided to confirm whether his dream was really gone or not.

"What's your dream?" The swordsman was clearly not one to beat around the bush.

"Huh?" Luffy looked back at him with the blank and unreadable eyes that Zoro hated.

"No one sails these seas without some sort of dream. At least, not people like you."

For once, and for only one moment, Zoro could read something from those eyes. He could sense the boy struggle with an inner conflict.

"For now... " The boy said slowly as he stared directly back into the swordsman's sudden calm and soft eyes. "I just want to get stronger have a great adventure!"

It wasn't the answer he was hoping for, but at least he knew all hope wasn't lost. A 'great' adventure could eventually translate into becoming Pirate King. The road to becoming Pirate King is a great adventure, if the progress they made in the previous timeline was anything to go by.

Zoro did note that having a great adventure was vague and could mean literally anything other than striving to become Pirate King. It wasn't nearly as ambitious. Heck, if Zoro lost his memories of the previous timeline and met Luffy like he was now, he would have never allowed himself to follow a man with an ambition worth less than his own.

But somewhere deep inside, Zoro still believed that this boy in front of him will become the Pirate King. Even though Luffy was now different and didn't proclaim that he will become Pirate King with every breath, Zoro just knew that he will become Pirate King. If anything, that was the universal truth of the whole world. If it wasn't, then Zoro was prepared to make it happen, no matter how messed up he turned out to be.

 _Plus…_ Zoro turned away from the boy to hide his smirk.

 _The conflict in those eyes revealed that somewhere deep inside, that despite what he says, Luffy still desires to become Pirate King._

It was just that there was a horrible something that was stopping him from wanting to dream that dream again.

But at least... this was still Luffy.

* * *

Zoro the swordsman. Nami the navigator.

They had addressed themselves as such. Nothing more and nothing less.

He quickly learned that Zoro held the third sword with his mouth and Nami's magic wands shot bubbles and did weird stuff with the weather. Zoro liked training, sleeping, and slicing. Nami liked yelling, navigating, and money. What mysteries.

Yet, Luffy felt some sort of connection with these strangers. He felt comfortable to be with them. He felt right to rely on them. To trust in them.

To say Sabo shared the same thoughts was a lie, but Luffy knew that his brother no longer suspected these two people of anything bad. That was good. He didn't know why, but he wanted Sabo to accept Zoro and Nami… even though he barely knew them either— which felt wrong to say. He felt like he knew them somehow, and that they knew him. If Luffy believed such things, he would say that they must have known these people from another lifetime.

He quickly deemed this a _mystery feeling_.

A couple days later, when they were all planning to restock at a near island, Luffy accidentally broke the sail of one of the ships. He didn't know exactly how, but he was playing with some aggressive birds and things turned sour quickly.

He could sense an aura of ferocity emanate from Nami as she berated him for doing something so stupid. Suddenly she raised her hand like she was about to smack him on instinct as if she had done it many times, and Luffy could feel it coming. He expected it to happen.

But she didn't, to his surprise. She stopped herself and she lowered her hand. Then she started shaking and tears streamed down her face.

"Nami? You're crying," Luffy was confused. He didn't know what was going on, but seeing the Nami react this way made him feel angry. His mystery feeling flared as they reminded him of some forgotten and non-existent promise to make sure this girl never cried again.

The girl clenched the front of his vest tightly, like she was making a knot. She suddenly seemed to be very angry.

"Eh? What's wrong?" Luffy gaped, but felt compelled to just tell her that everything was going to be okay, Even though he didn't know exactly what was going on. He glanced at Sabo, who only looked at the scene with equal confusion. Luffy then caught Zoro's gaze. It was neutral and untelling as usual, but he had a feeling that the swordsman understood Nami's sudden outburst.

"...Everything's okay," he finally said. This only caused the navigator to shake even more.

"I- I know," she forced the words through her gritted teeth. Eventually, her sobs faded and she let go of the raven haired teen. She quickly apologized and shut herself in the cabin.

Subconsciously, Luffy looked to Zoro as if he expected some sort of insight. The man just continued on with his business, like nothing happened.

 _Everything's okay_ , his mind repeated.

He didn't have time to process those words as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Luffy looked up at Sabo gave him a reassuring smile.

"It isn't polite to make women cry," Sabo lightly advised.

"But I didn't do anything!" Luffy defended himself. "But…"

"What?" Sabo eyed his younger brother carefully.

"I don't know," Luffy placed his fist against his chest. "When she was crying, I felt really sad too. Even though I didn't know what for. And… Back when I first saw them, I felt really happy. I'm still really happy seeing them.

"It's just… It feels nice, being by their side. It feels… right to be together. Like the same feeling I have when I'm with you. They make me feel… at peace," Luffy looked up to his brother, expecting some sort of explanation for what he was experiencing. Though if there was an explanation, Luffy was sure he'd understand none of it.

"Strange," Sabo whispered into the wind as he tried to rack his brain for any clue as to what Luffy was experiencing.

When Sabo didn't give an answer, Luffy grinned and just accepted that this mystery feeling he had with those two was really just a mystery feeling.

Just like most things he found in this world.

A mystery.

Nothing more and nothing less.

* * *

 **Look at that. Another chapter already.**

 **I know you guys are quiet, but should I do a mini arc with these four and explore more of their thoughts? Or should I just dive into meeting Sanji and Usopp next?**

 **Thanks for reading ~ November 3, 2018**


	8. The Jungle that Could Grow on Ice

******Well the vote on whether to have a mini arc was 1 to 1. So I made a compromise and fit a bunch of foreshadowing and information into this one short chapter. A very logical course of action if I say so myself (no hint of sarcasm whatsoever)... Maybe I should have cut it down a bit... Whatever.  
******

 **Thanks to Luc500 for the much needed criticism, motivation, and ideas. Cause I was kind of lost on how to progress the story. Well, technically there wasn't that much progress in this chapter but oh well~**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 - The Jungle that Could Grow on Ice  
**

The stars twinkled in the sky as if they had no care that their brilliance attracted the gaze of the creatures down on the earth. Sabo was one among the many that would admire the beauty.

For each star, he recounted the many times he went through life changing experiences. The first of which was running away from home and meeting Ace. The second, about a decade ago, was when he got two sworn brothers. Shortly after that event, he attempted to escape his home island and ended up getting blown up by narcissistic assholes, which resulted in him forgetting about everything and joining the Revolutionaries. That was an eventful day. Of course, then, being a revolutionary fighting against a messed up government meant that life altering experiences were always bountiful. Then, three years ago, he was reunited with his brother and his memory.

He was only twenty, yet he felt like he experienced five lifetimes. He scrutinized the sky to try to find which unlucky star he was born under.

After failing miserably, he recalled the recent events. Nearly a week ago, he investigated a couple of interesting rumors in Waters 7. One was that CP9 was undercover there in order to find the blueprints to other rumor was that there was a shipwright that was building Pluton somewhere in the city, which would be a pretty weird convenience to the government He was more skeptical about the second rumor, because such a thing couldn't just be a "mere" rumor. It would be obvious if said ship was being built. Sabo was unable investigate much into the matters once he found out Luffy was missing and he went into panic mode.

He tore his eyes away to examine the other occupants on this small sailboat with interest. On the opposite side of the boat was the swordsman, Zoro, sitting cross legged and his swords nestled close to his chest by his arms. Such a sight was common, since it appeared that he enjoyed his sleeps. In the cabin of the sailboat rested Nami. Sabo imagined that her sleeping position was more comfortable than Zoro's, since there was a small cot in there.

While they appeared nice and didn't seem to have any bad intentions, they did not match the profile of the typical sailors they claimed to be. They had yet to display their full fighting strength, but they were too strong and skilled to just be _sailors_. Plus, wielding a three sword style or being a weather witch was not common. People with their abilities usually were something more than sailors…

He speculated that perhaps they were retired pirates or marines… scratch that, just pirates. There wasn't a speck about them that could whisper "marine." Sabo chuckled to himself as he imagined the two acquaintances in navy uniforms. Okay… maybe these two were growing on him a bit. Jokes aside, they couldn't be retired anything. They seemed too young.

Then there was another odd thing about them. They acted like they knew Luffy… well, they acted like they were trying to hide that they knew Luffy - it was easy to see through lies in his line of business. But acting like such would be impossible, considering most of the people who knew of Luffy's existence died three years ago. Plus, if they did happen to meet Luffy at some point in their lives, why hide it?

Well, since they were Luffy-approved, Sabo was forced to semi-trust them too. Not fully. Luffy's record for trusting the right people wasn't exactly spotless… what with that incident with Cyril…

While he played out scenarios of how he could get answers out from then, Sabo let out a sigh. If Luffy had to think half as much as he did, his head would probably explode. He patted the head of his brother, who was leaning against his shoulder as he slept. He was a bit surprised that Luffy was sleeping so peacefully, for he knew that the boy hated sleeping. Luffy said that nightmares of loved ones dying always plagued him in his sleep, so he preferred to avoid them by not sleeping.

Luckily, a compromise was made to take short naps through the day, since the boy found that he had less dreams when his sleep was short. The fact that he was actually sleeping for more than two hours was a shock and a relief at the same time.

Sabo wondered if the "mystery feeling" of comfort around Zoro and Nami had anything to do with the twitchless and soundless night. Though it was unknown and confusing, Luffy's instincts should seldom be ignored. Then his thoughts cycled back to who exactly these "mysterious sailors" were. He had a lot of food for thought.

The revolutionary looked back at the sky to find a faint orange light peeking out from the horizon. With it was a distinct shadow of an island.

He shook his brother awake, knowing that the prospect of exploring an island would excite him.

* * *

"That's weird…" Nami whispered to herself out loud as she squinted at her hand drawn map in her hands. After being suddenly awoken by an animated scream from Luffy, Nami fell out of her cot - almost knocking down a potted tree she assumed was for decoration - and rushed to the front of the ship to find out what the ruckus was about.

She was surprised to see an island on the horizon. As far as she knew, they shouldn't have been able to see another island for a while. In fact, their next "stop" was supposed to be the Red Line.

"What's weird?" Sabo spoke up, interrupting her thoughts.

"Well… I don't think there's supposed to be an island there…" Nami answered as she grabbed a telescope to examine the outward appearance of the island. Was it really an island? "It doesn't show on any of my maps. And any island this close to the Red Line should be documented."

"Interesting…" Sabo took out a map from his bag to confirm her thoughts. She was correct. "I suppose this could be one of those cases where an island just appears out of nowhere."

"This means we get to be the first to explore that island!" Luffy exclaimed in excitement. He seemed to be ready to rocket himself to the island, but in the last second, he didn't. "Wait."

"Something wrong?" Nami asked awkwardly. She was still trying to get over how she lost control and cried on Luffy for something that was well in her "past". Luckily, Luffy wasn't the type to dwell on things so he acted like nothing really happened.

"I'm not a pirate yet," Luffy answered. "I can't adventure on new islands until I'm a pirate!"

Sabo looked like he disagreed greatly. "You didn't stop yourself from exploring all the islands we stopped by."

"That's because we had stuff to do on those islands! But this island... we would only go there for exploration and adventure! I can do that when I'm a pirate!"

Sabo rolled his eyes as he wondered what suddenly spurred his little brother to act stubborn over nothing.

Nami never thought it was possible for Luffy to restrain himself from adventuring. Well, until now, since this Luffy was doing a lot of things that made her question everything she thought she knew. She tried to find Zoro's eyes to guess what he felt about Luffy's behavior, but she was disappointed when she saw the swordsman just casually napping on the floor.

"You got eaten by a whale," Nami poked at the holes in his action and logic. "You didn't _have_ to _explore_ the stomach of that whale since you could have easily done that as a pirate."

Luffy opened his mouth to retort. But no sound came out of him. Quickly, he clamped his mouth and frowned. He slumped against the railing and mumbled something about spoiling the adventures he would have when he would become a pirate.

Nami couldn't hide her laughter while Sabo was reminded that his little brother was indeed a little brother.

"So, Lu," Sabo patted Luffy's shoulder. "You still don't want to explore that island?"

Luffy turned around, his mouth still a frown. He looked like he was having an inner conflict between principles and desires.

His hands tightly gripped the railings, but the poor railings couldn't handle his strength so they broke and splintered his palms. But the internal pain was much worse than the pain just inflicted on his hands.

If only out of stubborness, he said, "No! If I go here again when I'm a pirate, it'll be less interesting!"

"By then, you might not be the _first_ to explore this island," Nami teased to further increase Luffy's inner suffering. "And we might not even come across this island ever again."

Sabo raised his eyebrow as he prepared to disinfect and bandage Luffy's newly acquired injuries. " _We?_ "

"Ah! Sorry! That was a slip of the tongue," Nami awkwardly smiled as if she had just done something clumsy. Though the thought of _not_ continuing to explore islands with Luffy as her captain was terrifying. The whole time traveling debacle was to avoid that. "Honestly it feels like I've been sailing with you guys for a long time, so the idea of sailing more with you didn't seem so far from my mind…"

Sabo chuckled. "Luffy has that effect on people."

She could agree with that.

"What? What do you mean by that?" Luffy cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Nothing," the revolutionary gently smiled as he playfully ruffled his younger brother's hair. "So you still don't want to go to that island?"

Luffy seemed to be in immense pain as he slowly shook his head.

"Suit yourself, but I'll be exploring that island a bit myself," Sabo smirked. "I'm quite interested in this "island", and whether you go or not will be an amusing story to tell your father."

"What does dad have anything to do with this?"

"Nothing… Just a family thing."

"Then are you going to tell Gramps about it?"

There was a short pause before the revolutionary brought his palm to his forehead. "There's no way I'm ever going to visit that Rice Cracker Farm ever again."

The poor guy sounded traumatized.

His brother whined in agreement.

"You really set your mind on not coming?" he repeated.

Luffy slowly nodded as he consoled himself with the belief that he'd come across this island again after he became a pirate.

"I'll come too!" Nami declared. "There might be _treasure_ there!"

At this point, Luffy was just a sad puddle on the deck. Nami was surprised that he hadn't given up yet.

"You have about fifteen minutes to make a decision."

* * *

At first glance, the entirety of the island was covered by a jungle. Nothing except plant life could be seen. Even the grass dipped over the side of the land and rested deep in the water.

Time was up, and Luffy ultimately decided to not explore the island. Due to his decision, Zoro had to stay on the boat with him, of which Zoro didn't mind because he could sleep more.

Once Nami's foot touched the ground of this island, she felt like there was something very wrong. She felt a chill emanate from the land. What she was standing on didn't feel like a normal island, at least for something that wasn't really at the start of the Grand Line..

Another thing was that this area was unnaturally cold. Nami wasn't a botanist or anything, but she was sure that the temperature was too cold for a jungle to survive in.

She then felt the ground subtly move. Immediately, she knew that she was not standing on an island. Was she on an island turtle or something again because islands did no _sway_.

Sabo prodded the ground with his pipe as if testing if the ground was actually normal ground. He made an interesting humming noise, "There's a layer of ice beneath the soil."

That wasn't strange at all. She wondered if this was some strange iceberg, but quickly dismissed the thought because she knew for fact that jungles could not grow on ice.

After venturing through the tropical trees for a few minutes… Okay, Nami was officially creeped out. Despite the abundance of tall, leafy trees on this island, there were literally no other signs of life. No birds or mammals or bugs. Just trees, plants, and grass. It was like the purpose these plants served was to hide _something_ instead of providing a home.

 _Was this normal?_ Nami knew that the Grand Line didn't obey the laws of common sense, so maybe this was a natural thing for this island. She rubbed her hands over her arms, hoping to bring some warmth back to her… if only for a split second of comfort.

"So… you like hunting for treasure?" Sabo started up a conversation, to Nami's relief. She was getting worried about the silence.

"Yeah…" Nami grinned sheepishly. But to say she liked treasure was an understatement.

"Isn't that something pirates typically do?"

The navigator chuckled to herself. Right… she said that she and Zoro were just sailors. She was sure she would have been infuriated if a stranger compared her to a pirate before venturing with Luffy in the previous timeline. "I'm not a pirate, but I do like money and adventures. I don't like terrorizing people like those bad pirates though."

" _Bad_ pirates? Do you think there are _good_ pirates?"

"Of course!" Nami smiled, remembering how a certain rubber idiot showed her that pirates weren't all evil. "The world isn't so black and white."

"Bad pirates... Good pirates…" Sabo raised his eyebrow for a moment. Then he laughed. "That's kind of like how Luffy sees these things," he then paused for a moment. "No wonder you didn't seem so shocked or scared when Luffy said he wanted to become a pirate."

 _Oh please_. She was more shocked about the fact that he wasn't a pirate.

The revolutionary wore a thoughtful look on his face as he balanced his weapon around his fingers.

"But… there's probably more to that… isn't there?"

Nami paused in her stride and turned back to look at Sabo. "What do you mean?"

"No offense, but there's something strange about you two…" Sabo stated bluntly before mumbling to himself.

She didn't like how Sabo was looking at her like she was a possible enemy. But she understood if he thought they were a hazard to his brother's safety. Nami said nothing as she just stared at the blonde, waiting for him to elaborate.

"As much as I adore my brother, I can't deny he has a strange character. His personality and actions would make anyone freak out and question their sanity— in this part of the world, at least."

She knew that. And she knew the questions were gearing toward _how_ she knew that.

"But you guys don't act like it's weird at all. Well, maybe you've seen weirder things and nothing fazes you anymore. Or— and this sounds unbelievable to me but — you're used to this. It's normal for you to be around Luffy… Heck, Luffy says it feels right to be around you guys… So I get the feeling that somehow you guys have met before… that you guys have known each other for a long time…"

She noticed how his eyes softened and no longer had the look of hostility.

And right then, Nami was once again struck by the question that she had been thinking for a while. The question of if they should tell anyone of their time travel. If so, then who and when and what? Sabo? Ace? Vivi? Jinbei? Law? Other future allies? Would they even have the same allies this time?

Would they ever tell Luffy? Did it even matter since the timeline had been altered so much?

"...Of course, that's impossible… Since Luffy has no clue who you are… he wouldn't forget people as eccentric as you…" Sabo continued to ramble on.

"It's nothing. Luffy just reminds us of someone we were fond with. His feelings around us… I can't give you an answer for that because I don't know." Nami worded slowly as she looked down to the ground, like she was disappointed with herself.

"I get the feeling that is not the whole story."

Before Nami could respond, she suddenly felt the revolutionary push his hand against her shoulder, effectively knocking her to the ground. Her fall was immediately followed by the sound of a loud roar and the sound of steel clashing against something hard. She looked up to see Sabo standing his ground against some sort of _creature_.

It had the body structure of a lion colored blue, the head of a snake, and a goat head as a tail. She thought it was some messed up version of a Chimera, and she was greatly confused as to why the heck such a creature would exist at the beginning of the Grand Line.

She quickly shuffled back to her feet by the time Sabo pushed back the beast.

"The heck is that? Are you okay?" Nami yelled in concern.

"Aaaahwaaa!" The creature cried as Sabo struck it once more, ending its life.

"I'm fine…"

Before she could think about the question, Nami felt a couple dozen of eyes glare at her from the bushes and trees of the freezing jungle. There were a bunch more 'creatures' to deal with.

She took out her Clima Tact and took one glance at Sabo who only seemed more confused than distressed at their current situation.

"Would you mind if you got hit by lightning?" She was ready to shock all these creatures, but the weapon Sabo was holding could as well be a lightning rod and give him high risk to getting electrocuted.

"In many situations… Yes... I would mind."

Nami stuck out her tongue, she didn't feel like sitting out on the battle this time.

"Good luck then."

The once clear skies were suddenly covered by black clouds, crackling with electricity.

 _ **BOOM**_

* * *

Ever since Nami and Sabo entered the forest and disappeared from sight, Luffy couldn't stop squirming on the deck. After a few short minutes, Luffy was rolling all over the place like a lunatic. That didn't say much since he was always a lunatic, though.

Zoro eyed the rubber boy in amusement, impressed at the self restraint over something so utterly ridiculous that had never been expressed in the previous timeline. Maybe it was because he was not a pirate yet.

But… this was good. He didn't often appreciate moments like these in the previous timeline because it often caused him to be annoyed. Also, for the fact that he always thought that no matter what situation the crew would find themselves in, everything would be okay. They were all strong enough, and when they weren't, they would all get even more stronger. After all, they had usually pulled through any catastrophic event.

Clearly, the fact that this scene existed in front of his eyes reminded him that everything would not always end up in their favor.

"You know you can still go, right?" Zoro said, preferring to see a Luffy that was having fun instead of a Luffy that was practically dying. This was becoming more annoying than usual. Plus, there could be things that were waiting to be sliced on this island.

Luffy paused from his repetitive activity for a second to process Zoro's words. A sparkle of hope dared to dash his eyes. A second later he was back to writhing on the floor because of his stubbornness.

"There could be meat on that island," Zoro smirked devilishly, knowing that this was a surefire way to get Luffy to do anything, especially something he so desperately wanted to do.

The writhing only intensified.

Sometimes he couldn't believe that _this_ was who he thought was going to become Pirate King.

He frequently questioned his own sanity. But after all the adventures he'd been through, sanity didn't seem to matter to him anymore.

Zoro sighed, deeming Luffy a lost cause. Having nothing better to do, the swordsman closed his eyes and slept.

He dreamt of himself napping on the Sunny. It was a very insightful and eventful dream.

As Zoro was drifting on the border between consciousness and unconsciousness, he suddenly felt something _off_. Forcing himself back into the realm of consciousness, Zoro woke up very dazed, yet somehow alert.

He first opened the eye that never had a scar run through it. He was greeted by strange sounds and sights. The strangeness being that there was no Luffy to be found complaining in some random corner about not adventuring.

His instinct was right. Luffy was nowhere to be found on the ship. He guessed that Luffy couldn't handle _not_ adventuring and finally gave into his desire.

Normally, Zoro wouldn't worry about it, since he believed that Luffy could take care of himself. And he shouldn't be concerned at all beacuse they were on an island next to the Red Line— not really even the beginning of the Grand Line— so this place couldn't be that dangerous.

But ever since Luffy died in the previous timeline... Zoro couldn't not feel concerned.

Squeezing the Wado Ichimonji at his waist tightly, Zoro immediately leaped off the ship and plunged into the thick forest in search for his former/future captain.

The thought of getting lost never crossed his mind.

* * *

Though rolling everywhere on the deck in agony and drawing on Zoro's face with marker did seem to halt himself from exploring, it was simply not enough. The desire was too strong. He was probably going to get yelled at by someone —either Sabo or Nami— but he didn't care. They couldn't blame him after all the goading they did.

"ADVENTURE!" Luffy screamed as he swung through the branches and vines of the jungle like a monkey. He was in his element.

Too busy enjoying the wind breezing against his face, he didn't notice a presence that was stuck in the branches of the trees. As he grabbed onto another vine and swang, he suddenly crashed into that figure and fell and crashed into the trunk of a tree.

Since he was rubber, he didn't feel any pain. The same couldn't be said for the person he just slammed into.

"Owwwwww!"

"Sorry sorry! My bad!" Luffy giggled as he looked at the person he just hit. It was a man wearing heavy make-up on his face and a pink, swanish overcoat over his back. For some reason he was reminded of Iva-chan.

"Oh no! It's good! I was stuck in that tree and I didn't want to ruin my glorious overcoat! But I was saved by you, someone I don't even know. Thank you very much!" he said as he kneeled on the ground in gratitude.

"Ah… But there's a small tear right over there," Luffy said as he pointed to a specific spot on the coat over the man's shoulder.

"ACK! NO! I just fixed this a day ago!" The man screamed as he took off the pink coat to get a closer look.

Luffy stared at the man. He was getting that mystery feeling again. A feeling that he met this guy before… similar to how he felt when he first met Iva-chan, Nami, and Zoro. The feeling that he could immediately trust this person even though they have yet to do anything- like give him meat. "I can fix it for you," he offered.

"You would?!"

As soon as Luffy was given the coat, he started using the stitching stuff he kind of learned from one of the lessons Koala attempted giving him. The tools he used for the stitching process were a tooth he found on the ground and some stems from some leaves.

To say the tear was worse than before was an understatement. "Here!" Luffy proudly presented his 'masterpiece' to the man.

"OHH I see! Tears and rips are some kind of new style, right! I think I like it!" the man exclaimed in his moment of revelation. "What a kind hearted man you are!"

"Shishishi! Thanks! But are you an idiot? Why would you get stuck in some trees?"

"Ah! Well, I was on my ship looking for some people. Then suddenly there was this random hazy mist. I couldn't see a thing! Then a moment later, I was caught by this tree!"

"Funny!" Luffy laughed.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in this place?" the man said as he suddenly started spinning around like a ballerina.

"I'm exploring this island!" Even though he was not a pirate, his guilty conscious reminded him.

The ballerina stopped in his spin more a moment to give him a questionable look. "Island? This? This isn't an island, it's a gigantic iceberg!"

"Eh? I don't see any ice!"

"Ah! But I'm telling the truth! I swear! As a favor for saving me, I'll tell you that someone used some powder from some scientist to have these plants grow on the ice. Ah— but don't tell anyone that, it's supposed to be a secret."

Luffy didn't seem to care at all about the explanation about how there were plants growing on a large iceberg and how the iceberg was not sinking to the bottom of the ocean with all the weight and density added to it. "So it's a mystery iceberg!"

"...Yeah?" The man looked at him incredulously. Suddenly a light bulb figuratively popped over his head as he changed the subject for his own convenience. "Those people I've been looking for, maybe you've seen them?"

Luffy rubbed his now starving stomach as he waited for the guy to describe these people.

"Mmmm… I forgot their names, he tilted his head in frustration."But I'm looking for a Pirate Hunter and a Cat Burglar? Seen anyone like that?"

Luffy didn't process the question as he felt a few presences filled with killing intent surround them. He stood up in a defensive stance, to the man's confusion, and looked around. Crazed, growing eyes stared back at him.

Suddenly, a sleek, black creature leaped out toward him from the bushes, its teeth ready to rip.

Dodging the creature's wide opened jaw, Luffy proceeded to knee it in the stomach while preparing to hit it with one of his signature moves.

"Gomu gomu no… Pistol!" The creature flew into another part of the jungle from the impact just as three other strange looking creatures jumped out from their hiding places. None looked the same, in fact, they all looked like they were mixtures of different types of animals. One looked part alligator, part fox. The other was part penguin, part leopard. The last that shown itself was part wolf, part fish, part cow.

"Soo cool!" Luffy's eyes sparkled as drool fell from his mouth. "Good! I was getting hungry!"

"Oi! You shouldn't eat them!" the man yelled as he did a spinning kick on the fox-alligator thing that dared to lunge and try to eat him. However, four other hybrid creatures pounced on him from above and pinned him to the ground. "Ack!"

Luffy quickly extended his leg and sweeped all the creatures off the man, as well as the penguin-leopard and wolf-fish-cow things that were about to feast on his seemingly distracted self. As soon as his leg snapped back into place, most of the creatures that were hit, along with a few additional ones, surrounded the two once again.

"Woah… there's so many," Luffy hummed. Still thinking about food.

"They won't stop until you kill or completely knock them out! You can't scare them, no doubt!" the man yelled as he began to furiously attack the creatures with his stylish kicks. "Okama Kenpo~!"

"Oooh," Luffy awed at the fighting style of the man. "Then can I eat them?"

"No!"

Luffy frowned as he also began his assault on this growing army of creatures. Well, it wasn't like Luffy was the type to listen to people when they told him not to eat.

Once all the creatures that attacked them were either immobile, unconscious, or dead, the man looked at Luffy strangely. "Oi, those were some strange moves you used with your body."

"I'm a rubber man! I can stretch and fight!" Luffy grinned for a second.

"A Devil Fruit, huh?" The man leaned in closer to examine the rubberness of Luffy's body. "I also ate a Devil Fruit."

Immediately, the boy's eyes began to sparkle in amazement. "You did?! What is it?"

The man suddenly wore a smug face. Suddenly, Luffy was punched in the face and sent rolling toward one of the tree trunks.

"THE HELL?" He was quickly prepared to return the favor with his fist.

"Wait wait wait wait!" A squeaky voice suddenly cried from where the man once stood. Luffy's eyes widened as he suddenly stared at what appeared to be his reflection wearing the man's flamboyant clothes.

"WHA—"

"As you can see, I'm ate the Mane-Mane no me. I can clone anyone by touching their face with my left hand! Though no punching is actually necessary!"

"Ooh~" Luffy immediately forgot the fact that he was just punched for no reason.

"— And wipe that drool of your face, I said you can't eat these guys!"

"But I'm hungry!" The revelation of the guy's powers was quickly forgotten in favor of the most concerning problem.

"No one should eat these creatures," the man grimly looked into the depths of the jungle.

"Meat is meat!" the rubber boy protested.

"Would you eat humans? They are meat too."

"No..." his face scrunched up.

"Well, these creatures are like that. They're "sacred" and should not be eaten by humans."

"Oh, why didn't you just say so in the first place," Luffy pouted. "You made me get my hopes up for no reason!"

The man looked at him for a second, thinking that it was easier persuading this stubborn boy to not eat than he thought. "What's your name?"

"Monkey D. Luffy!"

"I'm Mr. 2! Oh wait, maybe I'm not supposed to say that…"

"What? You forgot your name or something?" Luffy looked at him like he was an idiot or something.

"No! Just call me Bon Clay!" he stuck his hand out as a sign to shake hands with his new acquaintance.

The gesture was accepted as they both shook hands.

"Say, since we fought together, does that mean we can be friends?" Bon Clay asked.

"Yeah!" Luffy chirped, excited at the idea of having another fun friend.

Luffy followed Bon Clay until they exited the jungle and were at the ice-shore that bordered the ocean. There, they found a very… exuberant and flamboyant styled ship.

"MR 2 BON CLAY-SAMA!" the people —okamas?— on the ship yelled in happiness and relief.

"Oh! That's my crew!" Bon Clay spun happily as he waved at the crew that came back for him.

"Crew? You're a pirate?!"

"Kind of. I'm more of an assassin… Oh, should I be telling you this? Whatever!" Bon Clay laughed to himself as he jumped on the railing of the ship and landed on the tip of his toes. "Speaking of which, the Pirate Hunter and Cat Burglar are my targets! You haven't by any chance seen anyone like that, have you?"

"Nope! Good luck finding them!" Luffy replied as he thought this was probably similar to how Sabo was sent on assassination missions to silence bad people.

"By the way, you should leave this place quickly! This kind of ice melts and breaks apart fast!" the boat started moving away from the iceberg-island. "I'll see you again later, Rubber-chan!"

"See you, Bon-chan!"

* * *

Sabo patted the dust off his hat as if he was only met with a minor inconvenience, while Nami wiped off sweat from her forehead. She had to run a bit during the fight. The reasons why would not be disclosed.

"Geez, what's with this place?" Nami exhaled deeply while eyeing all the strange creatures that lay limp on the ground. "And was it me, or did they sound a bit human?"

Sabo nodded as he quickly pieced together all the information he knew and received on this "island". He recalled the information a source in Alabasta, Nico Robin, sent to the revolutionaries. This situation seemed identical to one of the secretly leaked outcomes of the apparent Crocodile-Doflamingo alliance.

"Oi! Luffy!"

The duo turned around to find the green haired swordsman walking around some trees. He noticed how one of the swords was dripping with blood. He was probably met with a monster ambush of his own. Also, the swordsman had some marker ink all over his face.

"Oi, Zoro! What happened to your face?" Nami caught the swordsman's attention. "Wait, nevermind, I know what happened."

 _Luffy happened_ , Sabo stifled a laugh.

Zoro confusedly scratched his head as he unsheathed one of his swords to look at his reflection from it. He growled in annoyance but didn't seem like he was going to hold a grudge. Again, he seemed _used_ to this sort of action. Sabo could agree that this action was reminiscent of a child's, and that these people were probably used to dealing with children. But Sabo's gut was saying otherwise. There were some parts of Luffy that weren't so child-like. Was he really overthinking things? Was it really because Luffy reminded them of someone? Was it possible for there to be someone who acted like Luffy?

 _Luffy + Luffy = Eventual World Domination?_

"I believe we should continue where we left off…" he quickly shook the absurd and non-sequitur thoughts away as he looked at the orange haired woman. He resolved that if she wouldn't say anything else, then he would let the matter go.

Nami looked back at him in confusion, clearly the battle with all those creatures made her forget about what they were previously talking about. When she finally remembered, she quickly bowed her head in an apologetic matter.

"I'm sorry! I can't tell you right now, but please know that we bear no ill intent toward you or Luffy!"

Sabo narrowed his eyes as he analyzed her body posture. Despite her thief and tricky like nature, she seemed to be genuinely telling the truth. She also seemed to genuinely care for both their well-beings.

He sighed, disappointed, but somewhat understanding.

That was the end of that discussion then.

The swordsman raised his eyebrow for a moment but decided not to say anything. Ignoring the odd silence resulted, Zoro changed the subject, "Have any of you seen Luffy?"

"HAAA!"

His question was answered when a sudden force collided with his back and sent him flying toward a nearby tree. This… He forgot that this used to be a very common and annoying occurrence.

"Sorry Zoro!" Luffy sheepishly looked to the side. "I was aiming for Sabo, but then I slipped."

"So you finally gave in to your desire, huh?" Sabo laughed as he gave the boy a quick hug. "Find anything interesting?"

"Yup! I met a swan! He was funny."

"Hm, there are a lot of weird creatures on this island," Zoro grumbled as he dusted himself off.

Luffy pouted, "Bon-chan's not a creature! He's a man that just looks like a swan!"

"Should have made that clear from before," Nami sighed as she wondered why that name sounded familiar…

"Oh yeah, he also said that this iceberg is about to break down soon."

"What iceberg?" Zoro asked.

"The one we're standing on."

The moment he said that, the tree that Zoro flew into suddenly sunk through the land.

"Hm, so this place really was an iceberg," Sabo observed as he was suddenly drinking from a cup of tea that seemingly came out of nowhere. "A really flat iceberg..."

"WAIT! How is that even possible? Jungles can't just sprout from ice!" Nami shouted in confusion, but she could feel the ground start to dampen and sink.

"It's a mystery!" Luffy exclaimed as he followed his brother who seemed to know the way back to the boat.

"We've seen weirder things," Zoro stated as he followed the two brothers. Well, he tried to, but ended up turning a left when they didn't.

"And I still can't get used to your habit," Nami seethed in rage as she grabbed the swordsman by the scruff of his neck and began to accurately follow the boys out of the jungle that could grow from ice.

* * *

 **Also, the last two chapters have been updated because I needed to fix a few dumb mistakes. The biggest mistake being that I didn't know that 5 - 2 = 3. Sigh.  
**

 **Also, anyone got any random guesses for how Sanji and Usopp are doing?  
**

 ** **Thanks for reading ~ November 17, 2018****


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